NarutoEXE: Subspace
by NeoNazo356
Summary: After Grave's last attempt at world domination, despite the impending conflict on the horizon, peace seems right around the corner. However, mysteries within the SubSpace Army arise, events of the past begin to collide with the present, and the Multiverse-wide conflict threatens to expand onto new frontiers as the world faces its greatest challenge yet. Multi-Cross-Over.
1. Prologue to the Age of Seven

**People! Naruto EXE is back in the sequel, Naruto EXE: Subspace.**

**For those of you who've read the prequel, Naruto EXE, thank you for joining me on the continuation of Naruto's adventures in the world of MegaMan Battle Network. ****If you _haven't_ read Naruto EXE (which is NOT in the same tab as this FanFic), my advise would be to either read Naruto EXE, or to just skim over the last eight or so chapters to get the gist of the story.**

**For those of you who're reading this for the first time, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and those that will follow. **

**Anyway, this story starts... Now!**

* * *

It was early morning at the Hikari residence. Lan, Haruka, and Naruto were just waking up. Lan had turned on the TV and began flipping through the channels like any other person would. It had been a while since the incident at SciLab, and everyone had finally gotten hold of their nerves (which was good when you consider what happened).

"What would you two like for breakfast?" Haruka asked as she reached for the cupboards.

**Author's Note:  
****Haruka is the name of Lan's mom in case anyone forgot.**

"Anything's good," Lan said as he flipped through the channels, looking for something good to watch before school.

"_Due to a recent snowstorm, there will be no school in the Den Tech area,"_ the weather reporter pointed out.

"Woohoo!" Naruto cheered. "Three day weekend!"

Lan raised a hand for a high five. Naruto happily complied as he flipped into the air and landed on the couch.

"How does eggs and bacon sound?" Haruka asked.

"Sounds great," Naruto said. The next moment his PET Watch began beeping. "I have to go to the bathroom," he said as he stood up and walked to the bathroom. After he closed the door behind him, he cast a Silencing Genjutsu and opened the message.

"**This message had been brought to you by New Mystery Enterprises," **the message spoke.

Naruto pressed a button and pulled up the message.

**Naruto Uzumaki,**

**Greetings. My name is Jonny Lee Largent. I serve under Onii-San as his Special Tactician. He has spoken very highly of your skills and how you came from a world that revolves around the Way of the Ninja (which isn't all that hard to believe when you stop to think about it, and I mean **_**really **_**stop to think about it).**

**Anyway, I'm sending this message because I need your help. It is very important, and you are probably the only one who **_**can **_**help. There aren't that many other people I can ask.**

**The mission itself should be considered between Upper B-Rank to Lower A-Rank. This mission could quite possibly escalate to Full S-Rank. These ranks are based on guesswork and the content of the mission.**

**When you are done eating your eggs and bacon, please come to the café by the Den Tech Square. A black limo will be waiting to pick you up.**

**Come alone, and tell no one.**

**Signed,  
****Jonny Lee Largent, ****Special Tactician for NME **

Naruto, being familiar with what it was like to accept a mission, quickly isolated the message so anyone on the outside who tried to acess his PET Watch _couldn't_, dispelled the Genjutsu, and flushed the toilet so no one would ask questions about him going to the bathroom _without_ using the toilet.

_Wait a minute. How did he know what I was having for breakfast?_ Naruto asked himself as he left the bathroom and sat himself down at the table. A half-second later he shrugged it off.

"The eggs and bacon are ready," Haruka said as she brought out five plates of said eggs and bacon. "Naruto," she added catching his attention. "Could you take those two plates down to our guests in the basement?"

"Sure thing mom," Naruto said. By this point, as he was happily living his life with the Hikari family, he was more then happy to see Haruka as his adoptive mother.

He formed the familiar Tiger handsign and summoned two clones in twin puffs of smoke. Without a word, the two clones each took a plate of eggs and bacon and brought it down to the basement for Snake and Samus.

"Man, I really need to learn to do that," Lan said. "My work output would be doubled instantly."

At that moment Hub's face appeared on Lan's PET. "Half of zero is _still_ zero," he said bluntly.

A tick mark appeared on Lan's forehead at the forwardness of that statement. "I'm tempted to jack you into the Toilet Comp the next time you're in Navi Form."

"Hey Naruto, you think you could teach me how to do that?" Haruka asked. "It would really help with house work."

Naruto grabbed a piece of paper and jotted down a few notes.

"Follow these instructions and you should be able to do it pretty soon," he said handing her the piece of paper. After that, he got up, dropped a smoke bomb, and changed into his orange ninja outfit before the smoke settled. Then he walked to the door, but stopped short. "Oh, and burn that paper when you're done with it. If _everyone_ started using shadow clones, things could get ugly. And _fast_."

"But Naruto," Haruka called. "Aren't you gonna eat your eggs and bacon?"

Naruto opened the door to leave. "I already did. Didn't you notice?"

Haruka and Lan looked in shock at Naruto's plate which was now scraped clean of the eggs and bacon.

"I didn't even _see_ him lift his fork," Lan said astonished.

"Well that's a ninja for you," Haruka said as she read over the paper Naruto gave her.

"See you," Naruto said as he closed the door behind him.

"Hey Hub, what do you think Naruto went out for?" Lan asked.

Hub shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows?"

"Okay... I think I can do this," Haruka said as she got up from her seat. She formed the hand sign illustrated on the paper and focused her energy into a tight sphere. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Lan backwards in his chair as the puff of smoke suddenly appeared, filling half the room. The next moment Lan pulled himself up from the floor and brought his PET up so Hub could get a view. Both of their jaws dropped as they saw that their mom had successfully made _three_ working Shadow Clones.

"This is so cool," Haruka said giddy like a school girl as she have the other "Harukas" high fives. "Now I can dust, vacuum, and watch my soaps at the same time."

While that was going on, Lan and Hub were speechless.

"I can't believe it," Lan said awestruck. "I can't even make one decent _clone_, but you made three _Shadow_ Clones on your first go."

Haruka giggled. "Oh well. Guess I'm just better at this thing then you," she said jokingly as she went back to the kitchen.

Lan let his face fall into his eggs with an audible splat. _Great. I train to be a ninja _way_ before her, but my mom beats me to the punch. If Dex ever found out, he'd never let me live it down._

"Uh, Lan, you may wanna get your face out of your eggs," Hub said. "You could get scalded."

* * *

As Naruto walked into town, he had noticed that the skies were in fact grey with cloud coverage. He looked around and marveled the beauty of the snowflakes as they fell daintily to the ground.

"Ah Naruto. It's nice to see you." a familiar voice said from behind.

Naruto then turned around and saw Haku standing there wearing a blue sweater, red skirt, and a green knit scarf. "Oh hey Haku," he said as he walked over to her, before noticing the skirt, and the fact that it wasn't appropriate winter-wear. "Doesn't the cold bother you?"

She shook her head. "It doesn't. I _do _use Ice Element jutsu after all."

"That's good to hear," Naruto replied. "I was afraid you'd catch cold only wearing a _skirt _in winter weather."

"Do you want to know something?" Haku asked. Before Naruto could answer, Haku began talking again. "Every single snowflake in unique. No _one_ is like the other."

Naruto looked around. "You're right. Pity they have to melt when the sun comes out."

"Its okay," Haku said. "Snow, for however fleeting it lasts, is still beautiful. You just need to enjoy it while it's here."

Naruto nodded as he took out a shuuriken and watched as the snowflakes landed on the cold steel and stayed perfectly intact. After a minute he spoke up.

"Well I have to go," he said putting the shuuriken away. "As surprising as it is in this world, I've been called in for a mission."

"Really?" Haku said. "What rank is it?"

"Somewhere from upper B-Rank to lower A-Rank. Don't really know."

Haku smiled. "Well I'm happy for you."

"Hey Haku. Why don't you use your Kekkei Genkai anymore? You could do alot of good too. Heck, I could even help you out with your super hero costume."

"I just don't have it in me anymore," she said. "All I want to do now is live a happy life with no worries in the world. Seems someone out there wanted to give me a second chance, so I won't waste it."

Naruto smiled and nodded. "That's good to hear. And it isn't like you should get involved in any of this world's craziness _anyway_. You probably had enough of it the first time around."

He turned and left when Haku called to him. "Naruto!"

He turned around and saw Haku wave him goodbye. "See you later!" she said.

Naruto nodded and was about to leave when suddenly a gust of wind blew right towards him from behind Haku. The next moment her skirt suddenly fluttered up, revealing pink bunny-print panties.

"DAH!" Naruto yelped as the shock of what he just saw caused him to bleed out of his nose onto the snow around his feet, completely thrown off by what had just happened.

Haku blushed as she held her skirt down. "Sorry about that."

Naruto wiped the blood off his nose and turned away.

"How about we never mention this to Zabuza. Okay?" Haku asked quietly.

Naruto nodded without saying a word. He remembered how scary Zabuza could look when he was angry. He finally waved goodbye and left.

* * *

It was a half hour of walking later. There weren't that many people on the streets but one or two passerby. After a quick glance, he eventually sat himself down at a table and ordered a hot cocoa.

A few minutes later and the waitress brought him his drink. He looked down at the white mug, a small column of steam rising from it. He breathed the hot steam in, knowing that he had never had cocoa before, or at least didn't _remember _having it before. His past was a bit of an issue, but not an _urgent _one.

Anyway... After that, he blew some of the steam off and slowly drank it down.

"Ahh. That was good," Naruto said to himself as he finished his cup a few minutes later and paid for his drink. At that moment when he turned around, a black limousine pulled around the corner. The side window rolled down, and SamuraiMan hopped up in his hologram form and motioned him to come forward, while trying not to draw attention to himself.

Naruto opened the door and went in. The limo drove away soon after he closed the door behind him.

"Naruto. Good to see you," a man sitting adjacent from him said.

"So you're Jonny," Naruto said. He placed his hands at his sides, in a swift motion he unlatched the opening on his tool pouch. Just in case things got dicey. "You must be SamuraiMan's operator."

"Yes. I am," he said with a nod. At that moment Naruto took the time to remember his face and features. Jonny's hair was black and brown and slicked back, possibly with hair gel. He wore a white, short sleeved T-shirt with SamuraiMan's NaviMark on it, black jeans, grey and white sneakers, and a black duster with blue flames. His eyes were blue, he stood as six feet seven inches, and he appeared to be around twenty five.

"I received your message," Naruto said. "But before anything, I need you to tell me everything. From the _beginning_." He pulled a kunai from his pouch. "Otherwise I'm gone."

Jonny sighed, but eventually began to tell his tale.

* * *

**FLASHBACK (in narration)**

It all started a really long time ago when I was seven years old. At that time I was living in the bad side of Den Tech. But first I have to go back farther.

At the beginning of this story, I was_ six _years old. My father, mother, and my twin sister and I were all living happily together. But then one day, mom just didn't come home. After a while, my father started dating again, even though my sister and I all still missed mom.

When dad brought that woman home, I knew she was trouble. It was just something about her. I tried to tell my father not to see her, but he just wouldn't listen to me. Of course when you're _six_ people never really listen to you anyway.

It was a year later and the two of them got married. I tried to object, but since I was seven years old, everyone at the wedding thought I was joking around like a little kid.

It was a while later that my step-mom told me that dad wasn't coming home anymore. It was just like with mom all over again. Now all I had left were my sister and a few family members in other parts of town.

Then one day... _They_ came. These men in black suits came in and grabbed my sister. I tried to stop them, but my mother pushed me aside like I didn't even exist. Then I stared on in horror as that woman sold my sister to them for a briefcase full of money. I was devastated after they took her away. So I did the only thing I could.

Before my father had died, he had given my sister and I our first PETs. SamuraiMan was the navi I was given. However it was so long ago that I don't remember my _sister's_ navi.

Anyway, I left home and went to live with my other family members. Soon after I went to the police about the men in the black suits, but _of course_, no one believed me. After that, I tried to make a name for myself. At times it was hard and I wanted to give up, but then I found out that I was pretty good at Net Battling, so I decided to roll with it.

I fought in tournament after tournament, honing my skills. However... nothing could fill the hole in my heart left when my sister was taken away.

After that I lived my life as I could with my family members.

Many years later I was twenty three and participating in a local regional Net Battle tournament. It was there that I met Onii-San. He said he was interested in my Net Battle skills and that he wanted someone like me in his company.

I asked him what it was, and he told me his was part of a "private practice". After a good chat, I asked him what he could offer me in exchange for my services.

Then he said to me, "_If you agree to work with me, then I will grant you one wish. Provided as it is within my power."_

So there it was, my ray of hope. Since I had nothing to lose, I asked him to help find my sister.

He then said, "_It may take some time, but if that's what you want, then I'll find her. You can count on it."_

A while after that I became part of New Mystery Enterprises and waited for the day when Onii-San would be able to help me find my sister.

**FLASHBACK (in narration) END**

* * *

"So why did you call _me_?" Naruto asked.

"Onii-San finally found where my sister is being held," Jonny said. "Turns out my mother sold her as a human guinea pig to Grave as a human test subject for human experimentation."

_Grave. That's the same organization that guy who wanted to experiment on my blood was from_, Naruto thought to himself. He vaguely remembered the crazed doctor's claws tearing through his back. "So Grave has your sister. What do you need me for?"

"Onii-San managed to pin down where my sister is," Jonny said, "but the fact is I can't do this _alone_. That's why I'm calling you."

"Why doesn't Onii-San or one of the others help you?" Naruto asked. "Serenity looked pretty tough last time_ I_ saw her. I'm sure she could take a few dozen of them down if you gave her a blunt object or something."

"You have to understand. Onii-San gave me something to look forward to, and he _did_ helped me find my sister. I can't risk his life for my own benefit," Jonny explained. "Plus, Serenity is only a _secretary_. She doesn't really have the skills needed for this kind of operation," he said like an afterthought.

The next moment, Serenity suddenly appeared through the sun roof and nailed Jonny over the head with a frying pan. Next moment she disappeared like she was never there, uttering "Never call me secretary," on her way out.

"So why me again?" Naruto asked, ignoring the fact that this guy just got clobbered by Onii-San's personal assistant. _I can't risk her being able to read my mind either_, he thought.

"As hard as it is for me to believe, Onii-San _has_ told me that you are from a world of ninja, so you're the only one who can help me. I can't do this on my own."

Naruto sighed. "Very well. I'll help you find get your sister back."

Jonny nodded as the limo slowed to a crawl, then stopped altogether. "We're here."

The door to the limousine opened and Naruto found himself in a bunker of some kind. It was a dark room curved into an arch, possibly large enough to hold a private jet comfortably. How the limousine got _in _there, he didn't know, since there appeared to be no visible door or hatch in or out.

Suddenly the door at the other end of the bunker opened letting bright light pour in, and Onii-San with Anonymous sitting on his shoulder came in. "Jonny. I see you've recruited Naruto for this rescue mission."

"Hey Onii-San," Naruto said shaking his hand. "Yeah, I'm joining in. So what do I do?"

Onii-San motioned for them to follow. The three of them entered a long white-walled hallway, obviously to another bunker.

"As you know, this will be an infiltration-slash-rescue mission. The target is a twenty five year old woman. You are also to rescue her navi too if you can," Onii-San explained.

Naruto nodded in recognition.

"By the way, are you _sure _you don't want me to help?" Onii-San asked Jonny, almost like an afterthought.

He shook his head. "I don't want you to get caught in the crossfire."

Onii-San sighed, almost a bit sadly at that. "_Anyway_. I have recently discovered intel that states that for years Grave has been trying to replicate the conversion of a human soul into a powerful NetNavi. Much like how Dr. Hikari turned his Hub's soul into MegaMan.

The experiments they used have been unsuccessful, and even though Grave as a whole has ended, _this_ station has continued to operate independently, often buying or kidnaping people for test subjects.

Half of the subjects who undergo the procedure are either killed as a result of strain on the central nervous system, or are left in a comatose state by having their minds locked somewhere else in their brain. Jonny's sister was lucky enough to become _comatose_ after the experimentation on her, so there's still a chance that she can be saved."

"How will we get there?" Naruto asked, memorizing all he could about the mission.

Onii-San opened a door to the side of the hall, leading into another bunker. "Grave will go into full Lock-Down if we approach by conventional means, so you will be dropped by air onto the base."

It was then that they entered the hangar. Upon entering it they came upon another large dark room. Suddenly several lights came on, revealing a flying vehicle the likes of which Naruto had never seen before.

The body of the jet was oddly shaped, almost like a streamlined cone, except the front tip was widened and flattened. On the sides were large engines similar in size to the cabin with small stabilizing wings on the top, bottom, and sides. Below were three sets of landing gear, which Naruto wondered how they kept this behemoth upright.

"But won't this be picked up by the radar?" Jonny asked. While Naruto was taken aback by the jet's design, Jonny didn't seem too surprised about it. He's probably seen it before.

"Its been a few years since their last upgrade, so therein lies our golden opportunity," Onii-San continued. "While their computer system will be converted from the one used five years ago to a more _recent_ version, the radar will be disabled for a few minutes, so this ship should be able to fly overhead and be gone before the radar comes back online. Just remember that we only have _one _shot. We have to get it right the first time, otherwise we'll never have another chance to rescue Jonny's sister."

"Woah wait a minute! I'm not jumping out of a _plane_!" Naruto complained. As far as he remembered he hadn't jumped out of a flying vehicle before, and something told him that it was a really bad idea.

"Relax," Onii-San said in a dismissing gesture. "You two will be given parachutes to make your drop. However _when_ you jump, try and stay out of sight. Just because the _radar _won't see you doesn't mean the _guards _won't."

"But what will we do once we get there?" Jonny asked. "We can't just _walk _through the front door."

Onii-San pulled up the blueprint for the base and spread it across the floor. Naturally everyone got on their knees to get a good look.

"There is an air vent on the roof right about here," he said pointing to a spot on the roof. "Through it you should be able to get into the base. When it comes to getting _out_, you'll need to find a way to get out of the base and to a viable extraction point. From there you will be taken back here.

Also, the body of Jonny's sister will then be treated afterwards. However, it is essential the she doesn't come to any physical harm before then. Any outside interference to her nervous system may cause her to become comatose _permanently_."

Jonny and Naruto nodded, digesting the direness of the situation. "Agreed."

"Alright then," Onii-San said as he moved to start up the jet. "We will leave in a few hours."

"Wait," Jonny interjected. "Before we go, I need to test Naruto's ability. I want to see for _myself _what he's capable of. Not that I doubt your judgement or anything but still," Jonny added hastily.

"Very well then," Onii-San said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Follow me to the Dimension Dome."

"The _what _Dome?" Naruto asked, intrigued yet confused by Onii-San's word play.

* * *

A few minutes later, Naruto, Jonny, and Onii-San stood in a large domed room. The entire room was lined with hexagonal panels, and it seemed to emit a purplish glow almost constantly.

"Alright, Naruto will be facing against SamuraiMan," Onii-San explained as he stood a distance away from the two fighters. "This room is made of special materials that, when electricity is passed through it, gives it the properties of a fully generated Dimensional Area. Battle Chips may be used and the match will only continue until one fighter yields."

Jonny and Naruto both nodded as they prepared for battle.

"But remember, you need to keep it under a half hour," Onii-San added. "We need to leave within the next _hour _or so if we want to make our deadline." Then Onii-San pressed a button on his PET, and an intense electrical current passed through the walls and ceiling, the purplish glow gradually changing to a rainbow-colored hue.

"Go SamuraiMan!" Jonny said as he held out his PET and let SamuraiMan out in a flash of light. SamuraiMan drew both his swords and held them at Naruto in a fighting stance.

"I respect your strength," Naruto told SamuraiMan as he assumed a fighting stance. "But I _will_ defeat you." Then for some unknown reason, Naruto suddenly pulled out a pair of Nunchaku and put on a fake moustache.

"What's with the moustache?" SamuraiMan asked.

"When you have a moustache," Naruto spoke as he twirled one end of the moustache with his finger, "you automatically become good with nunchuks." The next moment, Naruto began swinging the nunchaku around his head, abdomen, and under his legs with the precision of one who has trained with nunchaku for many decades of intense practice and study.

SamuraiMan took a step forward to fight, but Naruto was already upon him in a flash of orange.

Meanwhile in the corner, Onii-San, the freshly materialized Anonymous, and Amy watched and flinched as Naruto beat the living daylights out of SamuraiMan with nunchucks.

"Pretty good fight huh?" Onii-San asked his NetNavi-counterpart.

"Uh huh," Anonymous answered with a nod.

"Anny? Can I use Nunchaku too?" Amy asked, tugging on Onii-San's jacket sleeve.

"Awww. She wants to use nunchuks too," Onii-San cooed as he playfully ruffled Amy's hair.

Anonymous sighed. _I'd kill myself now, but then I'd never get to kick ass again._

* * *

A half hour later, Onii-San, Naruto, and Jonny were all in NME's Stealth Deployment jet. In a few short moments it will have flown over Grave's base. The sky above the remote region was also experiencing snow, thickening with grey clouds as the sun set and darkness began to overtake the land.

With Fate placing her hands under the window sill, their window of opportunity was about to be opened, and _closed _within the same minute.

As they neared their drop point, the back door to the plane opened letting the roar of wind loose as it rushed by the plane. Naruto and Jonny stood at the back armed with flight goggles, their parachutes, and some other tools.

"We will be passing over the grave base in five seconds!" Onii-San called from the cockpit. "Be prepared to jump on your mark."

Naruto and Jonny both gripped the handles of their parachutes.

A _moment_ later and Naruto suddenly stepped back. "I can't jump!" he said panicked as he looked down.

"Well we _have_ to! My sister needs me!" Jonny argued as he tried to force Naruto to jump out of the plane with him. "Now you're jumping out of this plane whether you want to or not!"

"Don't worry. I'll_ push_ you both out," Onii-San said as he shoved both of them out of the plane, causing them to scream at the sudden thrust into the unknown.

After the two _skydivers _left his sight and their screams faded, Onii-San quickly jumped back into the cockpit and checked his watch. "What do you know. They had seven seconds to spare."

After his little joke, he reached beside his seat and pulled up a briefcase and opened it. Carefully placed inside was a gold-colored Synchro Chip with silver circuits and a red core in the center.

"Time to give this puppy a test drive," Onii-San said as he plucked the chip from its case and readied it above his PET. Anonymous smirked on his shoulder for what was about to happen.

The next moment, there was a blood curling scream that was carried through the skies as a gold light shone through the seams of the plane in every direction.

Then the plane veered off course and was lost from sight.

* * *

After a somewhat sketchy_ fall_, the two pulled their parachute cords and descended down to the base. A few seconds later, the two of them touched down on the roof just before a guard caught sight of them.

Naruto unlatched the parachute from his back and ducked for cover. He then used a ninja technique to hide himself from view as he looked over the whole base.

It was mostly concrete reinforced with steel, a large building placed in the side of a mountain with other mountains overlooking it on the sides to hide it from view from the ground. The area of the roof they were on was relatively small, and so while there were guards elsewhere, there were none up on _their _section of the roof. In the front of the building was a large courtyard with a gate leading to a secret tunnel. By _land_ it was the only way in and out of the base.

Perched along the edges of the mountains surrounding the base were several anti-air turrets (obviously to deter aerial units), but with the Computer Network being changed over to the new one, their Stealth Plane needed not worry about getting shot down. Guards were on the ramparts of the walls and on the grounds, working in interlocking patterns so that the most ground could be covered with the least amount of effort. All were armed with machine guns, and they obviously wanted to use them on some unfortunate soul.

"How're we going to get rid of the parachutes?" Naruto whispered, not wanting to risk being heard. "We can't just leave them here to be discovered later."

Jonny grabbed a small taser on his belt and pressed the probes onto the two parachutes. "I'll send an intense electrical current through the parachutes," he explained. "They're are made with a similar material as a magician's 'Flash Paper', so they'll self-destruct cleanly and silently, leaving no trace behind."

Naruto watched in wonder as the parachutes they had used left no trace of their existence. "Okay that was cool."

After working the _awe _from his system, he looked around and suddenly noticed that Jonny was no longer with him. "Hey where'd he go?"

"In here. Be sure to put the grate back on before you come down," Jonny whispered poking his head out from the nearby air vent before dropping back down.

With a shrug Naruto summoned a shadow clone just before he jumped down the vent. The shadow clone soon after used a kunai to put the screws back in the vent as it was locked back into place, then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

* * *

Naruto and Jonny crawled through the air vents for about half an hour or so. The reason it took so long was because the base went several stories underground, and because they had to be very careful not to make too much noise while doing so.

Thankfully for them the AC was running during that half hour, so they didn't have to worry about smothering down there.

Naruto and Jonny had studied the blueprint that Onii-San had made through satellite photos, however all he could get was the roof, courtyard, and the surrounding mountains. The inner workings of the still-active Grave base were still a mystery.

"I'm grateful that Onii-San was kind enough to drop us here safely," Naruto whispered silently, "but couldn't he have gotten some blueprints of the inside?"

Jonny peered down a grate to make sure no one heard them. "This base was built in _secret _years ago," Jonny whispered. "There's only so much a person can find on a _secret _base using _sattelite_ photos."

Naruto looked ahead and followed the curve of the vent they were in. "I say we take the next right into a locker room or something," Naruto suggested after looking at his surroundings. "I'm starting to get a little claustrophobic in here."

Jonny nodded as he followed Naruto to a vent emptying into another room.

"By the way," Naruto whispered. "Why was_ I _the only one you could call? Couldn't you have called _Snake_ or _Samus_ in for this mission as well? I'm sure they do this kind of thing all the time."

"The reason I _didn't _call them was because Snake snuck cigarettes into his first mission through his stomach, and Samus is a bounty hunter who can't go to a single _planetoid_ without drawing attention to herself from every alien within a single parsec."

Naruto made a "how the hell did he know that" face before he dropped down into the room as well.

* * *

Meanwhile outside the Grave base.

The Grave troops, which wore black outfits and skull-shaped masks, were monitoring their posts. All was as it was, normal and boring.

"God this is boring," one guard said to another. "Just _once _I'd like for someone to actually come here and try something. My trigger finger has started twitching lately."

"Dude! You just jinxed us!" the other guard said. "According to Murphy's Law, now that gate is going to _burst_ open in the next five seconds and some badass dude carrying a giant gatling gun will come in here and slaughter us like livestock."

There was an awkward silence as the two guards waited for something to happen.

"Um. This is awkward," the first guard said.

**Shadow the Hedgehog soundtrack - I am All of Me**

"Troops! Something's coming through the tunnel!" one guard monitoring the tunnel-cam shouted as a single headlight appeared on the monitor.

A projector showed someone on a motorcycle heading straight down the tunnel. Before the figure neared the gate, it jumped off of the motorcycle, letting the motorcycle fly straight into it.

The next moment the gates were blown off their hinges in a blazing explosion.

"I totally called that," the second guard said.

**Author's Note:  
****The latter part of this chapter could be considered M-Rating over its current T-Rating, due to mentioning of blood, guts, etc. **

**Just warning you now so nobody gives me any crap in any reviews later. So no one say anything like "You never warned us", because I just did.**

**And just to be more clear, only _this _chapter will be considered M-Rating past this point. The rest of the chapters will be T-Rated.**

The two gates fell to the ground with a resounding clang. From the flames, a figure walked forward, slung over his shoulder was a six foot long Gatling Gun.

"You know there's a saying," the figure said evilly. "You can't spell _slaughter_, without _laughter_."

The figure then brought the Gatling Gun forward and pulled the trigger, and hundreds of bullets were sent flying out of the Gatling Gun cutting through the guards as they tried to stop them.

They screamed in pain as they ran around the courtyard, the bullets ripped through their bodies, leaving massive gashes that caused blood to leak out freely all over the courtyard.

The figure continued to swing the Gatling Gun around tearing through even more guards with every passing swing, a low cackle escaping his lips.

One guard flipped the EMERGENCY button case open and was about to press it when suddenly a bullet shot through one ear and went out the other. His arms fell limp as his eyes rolled back into his head, pink oozy stuff issued from the new hole through the sides of his head.

"Heh. Too easy," the figure said complimenting himself on his marksmanship. He'd hit the guy straight through, which was hard to do with a _gatling _gun because of the weight and the recoil.

The dead guard slumped forward, his face pressing the button down and activating the alarm before the rest of him slumped to the ground in a bloody heap.

"Damn," the figure said as he aimed his gatling gun at the front door and got ready for the blood bath in the future. "Just my luck."

The next moment, dozens of Grave operatives charged at the figure with guns drawn. The figure only smiled. Then cackled. But mostly smiled. "Oh well. More fun for me then."

* * *

Naruto and Jonny had hopped down into a locker room and looked around.

"Okay. All we have to do now is find a pair of spare uniforms and we'll have free reign of the base," Jonny explained as he motioned to the lockers. "That'll be our best bet for getting around this place with the least difficulty anyway."

Naruto quickly checked all the lockers. "No good, there's nothing here. What do we do _now_?"

"We'll just have to sneak around the _old-fashioned_ way," Jonny said as he motioned for the door.

Naruto peered around the corner, then gave the thumbs up. He and Jonny then tip-toed down the hall as they looked for the Medical Ward.

They were about to find a directory (which was strange since that was the kind of thing you found in a mall) when suddenly the alarms started blaring.

**ALERT! ALERT! INTRUSION IN PROGRESS! ALL MEMBERS TO ARMS! ALL MEMBERS TO ARMS!**

"Damn it!" Naruto said as he and Jonny ducked into a nearby broom closet. The two of them watched the shadows pass at the bottom of the door, obviously the people on the other side were running. "What the hell happened? We weren't seen," he cursed, totally frustrated.

"That's because _we_ weren't seen," Jonny said. "Someone or something _else_ must've set the alarms off. I mean what're the chances?"

"I say we make the most of this opportunity and head for the Comatose Ward," Naruto said as he peered out the door. "With whoever is outside acting as our distraction, we should have the halls to ourselves for the time being."

Jonny nodded in agreement as he followed Naruto down the hall and into the elevator.

* * *

Back in the courtyard, the figure holding the gatling gun was firing like crazy at the door as Grave members poured out and started firing upon him.

"Damn! I bet the blue hedgehog never had this much trouble," the figure said to himself as he continued to mow the Grave members down with his gatling gun. After a few were gunned down, they immediately pressed themselves to the walls and attacked with guerilla tactics.

The figure immediately grabbed a nearby body and used it as a shield as he prepared an explosive. "Heh. Who knew these Grave guys would make such good meat shields."

The next moment he pulled out a silver grenade with a pin set in the top.

He immediately pulled out the pin with his teeth and chucked it over his shoulder, sending it in the direction of the entry hall. The next moment he dropped to the ground and covered his head to brace himself for the explosion.

* * *

Funny thing about the Grave base. The elevator has Don't Stop Me Now as its elevator music.

"Weird," Jonny commented.

"I'll say," Naruto added.

The elevator touched down on the floor they wanted. Naruto and Jonny grabbing their weapons in case anything came at them. Jonny had a handgun and taser, while Naruto had his kunai and shuuriken.

The elevator doors opened, revealing a long empty hallway. Mounted on the ceiling two thirds down in the center was an automatic machine gun. It was attached by a simple mount, had a large compartment for ammunition next to it, and had a set of laser crosshairs trained across the room.

"By the model and make, I'd say that automatic turret has a .5 second lag," Jonny said as he scanned the turret with his PET's scanning function.

"How will we get past it?" SamuraiMan asked.

Naruto straightened his headband. "Don't worry about it. This kind of thing is what ninja were _made_ for."

"Are you nuts?! That thing hits you and you'll look just like Swiss cheese," Jonny warned frantically.

"Jonny. If I can't even defeat an automatic _gun_, then I won't be able to protect my friends from a _real_ enemy," Naruto said as he placed his foot against the wall of the elevator. "Here I go!"

Before Jonny could utter a word of protest, Naruto had already bolted forward, his foot impacting a large dent on the elevator wall from where he pushed off.

The moment Naruto left the elevator, the light on the side of the machine gun turned red indicating that it registered an intruder. Before the gun could lock onto its target however, Naruto had already run across the side of the wall and kicked the contraption off its mount, sending it onto the floor with a loud crash.

Jonny's jaw then dropped as he realized Naruto crossed thirty feet in ._4 _seconds. "Damn. Guess he really _is_ a ninja."

Just as Jonny was about to congratulate him though...

"Owowowowowowowowowowowowowow!" Naruto cried as he hopped around holding his sore foot.

Jonny sighed as he grabbed Naruto and dragged him down the hall. However just as Jonny dragged Naruto down the corner, he heard something he _really_ wish he didn't.

"Intruders! Shoot them!" a Grave member shouted signaling the other members.

"Shit!" Jonny muttered as he and Naruto ran down the hall from the group of guards carrying large guns.

Without thinking the two of them ran down a side hallway. Only too late did they realize that they were in a dead end. No air duct or anything was nearby for a viable escape route.

"Crud. This doesn't look good," Naruto said as he held a kunai in his hand.

Naruto, and Jonny stood in the end of a white walled hallway, their backs to the end wall. In front of them were several men in black uniforms with skull masks. All held machine guns and were ready to fire.

"I'm guessing this wasn't part of the plan," Naruto asked the man next to him.

"Sorry about this kid," Jonny said holding up a handgun. "Guess I bit off more then I could chew."

"You're not going anywhere," one of the masked men said. "Get ready to die."

_Dang it. No matter how many times I play it through, at least _one_ of those guys is going to get a shot in before we can do anything, _Naruto thought as he analyzed the situation over and over in his head. _And I don't think we can afford to be stopped either._

"Any last words?" one of the grave members said in a confident tone.

"How about this. Surrender or die." a voice said from the other end of the hall. It was dark and menacing. The tone was familiar to Naruto, but he just couldn't _place _it at the moment.

Of course if there were a dozen guys with guns pointing them at _you_, you might have some trouble remembering stuff too.

Everyone looked behind them to see someone standing at the end of the hall. He was wearing a black grey-trimmed jacket, jeans, black and red sneakers, and had his face concealed by the cowl of his hood.

Two things drew everyone's attention the most however, the first being he held a black-armored triple-barrel handgun with silver dog heads on the sides and top of the barrels with a leather-bound handle, silver chain attached, and golden hammer. The second thing that was distinctive was that his clothing was covered (soaked) in blood. You could hardly see the black grey-trimmed jacket anymore.

"Is that Onii-San?" Naruto and Jonny asked at the same time, recognizing the organization boss' signature jacket.

"Last chance. Surrender or die," the blood-soaked figure demanded in an intimidating tone, the oversized gun still at his side.

The Grave members turned away from the Naruto and Jonny as they stood in the back hall and turned their guns towards the new figure.

"Well if that's your answer," the figure said as he raised the strange triple-barreled gun to level.

Before any of the Grave members could even fire their guns, the sounds of bullets being fired echoed through the halls. Naruto and Jonny immediately ducked as dozens of bullets whizzed past their heads, making the wall behind them look like Swiss cheese.

When the two of them looked back to the other end of the hall, they were amazed to find that nearly all the Grave members had already been gunned down. At the moment only one was left, but Naruto figured that would soon change.

"Any last words?" the blood-covered figure said in a deadly tone.

The remaining Grave member could only quiver like a mass of goo as the figure raised his gun to his head. The next moment the poor Grave member's brain was splattered across the adjacent wall, thankfully missing Naruto and Jonny by inches.

Naruto, hardened by his ninja career had managed to watch most of the bloodbath without hurling. Jonny..._ Not_ so battle-hardened.

"What the hell are you two standing around for!?" the blood-soaked figure demanded as he tried to shake some of the blood off his clothing. "We've got work to do!"

"Onii-(hurk)San (gaak) is that (blaagh) you?" Jonny asked between barfing.

"Yes and no," the figure said bluntly with a shrug of the shoulders. "Now suck it up and quit being such a pussy! We still have a girl to save."

Naruto dragged Jonny along after the mysterious blood-soaked figure, trying as he may to avoid the bodies on the floor and the blood dripping from the walls and ceiling.

* * *

Naruto, Jonny, and the figure who might be Onii-San came up to a split in the hallway. Naruto then breathed onto his headband and polished it on his sleeve.

"There are a bunch of guys in both directions," he said as he checked both ends of the hallway, using his headband's reflection so he didn't have to stick his head around the corners. "What're we going to do now?"

The figure who was suspected to be Onii-San pulled his hood back and wiped a bit of blood off his face with a part of his sleeve that wasn't blood-soaked. "I guess we'll have to split up then."

"Just how are you _are_-but-_not_-Onii-San?" Naruto asked, noticing the figure's face was in _fact _Onii-San's. "I know for a fact that your face is Onii-San's."

The figure turned to face Naruto, his eyes crimson with green marks radiating from the pupil. "Because I'm not Onii-San. I'm Anonymous using his body."

"Are you cross fused?" Jonny asked after finally gaining his composure, looking around to see whether or not a Dimensional Area had been made. If he were suddenly able to use battle chips for this mission, things would become so much easier.

"Kinda sorta," Anonymous said bluntly, his voice a little different since he was now in a human body. "We used a Mental Crossfusion chip right after we kicked you _chuckleheads_ out of the plane. It doesn't require a Dimensional Area, but the Synchro Rating between NetNavi and NetOp has to be _exceedingly _high or else it won't work at all."

"Makes as much sense as anything else in this world does," Naruto admitted, which for one thing wasn't that far from the truth. "So how're we going to move ahead without getting killed."

Anonymous placed his triple-barreled gun back in his holster. "Onii-San keeps himself in shape, so I should be able to handle myself without worrying about any permanent damage to him. But don't worry, I've got something to help you guys though too."

Anonymous reached into his jacket and pulled out a small, wooden gold-trimmed clock, which was about a foot wide and two tall. "Just stand back and enjoy the show."

The two of them leaned forward as Anonymous pulled a key out of a pocket and got ready do insert it into the back of the clock. "No really. You two should stand back."

The two of them realized with Anonymous, that could mean just about _anything_. They quickly stepped back fearing for their own lives, and for good reason at that if you knew of Anonymous' "Track Record" for these kind of things.

"Let's see... Ensure that your robot is within direct visual line with the target..." Anonymous spoke to himself as he _delicately_ pushed the clock into the hallway, which was a bit shocking coming from a guy covered in blood.

"Then wind up the clockwork with your key..." he said as he inserted the key into the back of the clock and turned it numerous times, all the while not being noticed by the guards.

"And watch as the robot does its job," he finished as he put the small key back in his pocket.

There was a quites sound of gears turning and springs moving, then a pair of legs suddenly folded out of the bottom, a pair of clawed arms with zig-zag grips from the sides, and a stabbing implement from the face as it folded down.

Anonymous, Naruto, and Jonny watched as the little clockwork robot slaughtered about a dozen Grave members, and continued down the hall for several minutes.

To put it simply, it wasn't PG-13.

Or at least not by the ESRB Content Rating system anyway.

"When the hell did you learn to make something like_ that_!?!" Jonny demanded, shocked at the recent display of robot innovation. His attention diverting between his possibly deranged possessed-boss and the little robot slicing the corpses to pieces, splattering blood and entrails all over the halls.

"Fifth grade as far as I can remember," Anonymous said bluntly as stood up and went down to the left hall, walking away from the robot. "Be sure to pick up my robot on the way out. I don't want that kind of technology in the wrong hands"

Naruto picked his and Jonny's jaws up off the floor as they took the right hallway.

"Where the hell did this guy go to school to _learn_ to make stuff like _that_?" Jonny asked as he was dragged by Naruto down the hall and to the Comatose Ward, taking the effort to avoid running through the slaughtered bodies.

"Not really sure," Naruto said as he picked up the robot, hoping it didn't suddenly activate itself in his arms. "All I can tell you is he didn't go to any _public _school to make this thing."

* * *

A few blood-soaked minutes later, Naruto and Jonny forced their way into the Comatose Ward after _disposing_ of the two guards standing by. And trust me, when you're deep in enemy territory and those enemies have _machine guns_, you'll usually want to make sure they don't bug you later.

"We're finally here," Jonny said as he started checking the patients for his sister.

As Naruto closed the door behind him, he was left dumbfounded by the sheer number of comatose patients in the ward. _I can't believe these guys would ruin so many lives just for personal gain_, Naruto thought to himself as he counted the number of patients there.

At a first glance he had counted several dozen.

_Its sickening_, Naruto thought as he threw a kunai into the throat of one of the Grave members that tried to get through the door. _As a defender of peace, I won't allow this to stand_. He then realized what he had said to himself. _Well... the "defender of peace" thing may be a bit of a stretch, but you get the general idea._

Jonny continued to look around but had found no trace of his sister. "No luck yet."

The door was suddenly kicked in by a very pissed off Mental-Crossfused Anonymous. There were a pile of bullet-ridden corpses behind him, and his pant legs were _completely_ soaked in blood. "What the _fuck _is taking so long!?!?!?!" he demanded as he closed what was left of the door behind him. "I'm soaked head to toe in blood and guts for Christ's sake!!!!"

And at the end of that comment, apparently as the Universe's own sick way of getting the point across, someone's lung sloughed off his shoulder and onto the floor with a tiny splat. And I'll say now it wasn't _his_ lung.

"We can't find her," Naruto answered as he slit the throat of a Grave member that was running around, making sure to kick most of the body under a bed before Jonny saw it and barfed (again). "There are too many people here."

Anonymous grumbled as he walked down the aisle, checking clipboards on the beds of the comatose patients as he went.

"Here she is," Anonymous said pointing to one of the beds after a couple minutes. "Amber Dawn Largent."

Jonny rushed over to the side of his comatose sister. Upon inspection, she had brown hair, brown eyes (when they were checked), and a slightly athletic build (which was a bit surprising for someone who had been in a coma for nearly two decades). A remaining detail was that she was "_modest_". If you catch my drift.

"Quick question," Jonny said. "Even though I told you _not_ to come, why'd you come anyway?"

"Here's the _real _question. Could you have afforded to _not_ have me here?" Anonymous asked bluntly with a raised eyebrow. "Cause from the looks of it, you two'd be dead as a couple of doornails had I not shown up and pulled your bumbling butts out of the fire."

"Point taken," Jonny admitted in defeat. "I'm just glad that Onii-San's body hasn't been too damaged."

"Somehow I have the feeling the kid's been through worse then this," Anonymous said, having _very _vague ideas in his mind about Onii-San's past.

"So how're we going to get the her out of here?" Naruto asked.

"We grab the girl and make for the roof," Anonymous answered. "We'll make our escape from here." He then pulled out a small electronic device from his pocket. It looked like a futuristic taser, except it had two suction cups attached to the ends instead of barbs and a small power gauge on the side and a semi-large battery hooked up to the bottom side.

"What's that?" Jonny demanded. "Wait! Are you going to use that thing on my sister!?!"

"Well _duh_. That's the general idea," Anonymous said as he attached the two suction cups to the temples of Amber's head.

"Is it going to hurt?" Jonny asked worriedly.

"I have _no_ idea. This thing is completely experimental," Anonymous replied casually as he started up the strange device.

"You mean you haven't_ tested _it yet!?!?!" Jonny shouted.

"How the_ hell_ was I supposed to_ test _this thing?!?!?" Anonymous ranted waving his arms in the air for emphasis. "I don't exactly have access to _comatose bodies _on a regular basis you know!!!"

"Just do it!" Naruto shouted angrily. "They're closing in on us while you two are arguing!"

Jonny fumed. "Fine. But if it kills her, you're as good as deleted."

"Whatever," Anonymous spoke as he pressed a red button on the side of it. A bolt of red energy suddenly shot down the wires of the devise and coursed through Amber's body.

At first there was no result, but then she suddenly bolted awake screaming, her hair a bit frizzy from the electric current.

"Shit! What did you do!?" Jonny asked as his sister started flailing around mindlessly.

"Jump-started the synapses in her brain," Anonymous said. The next moment his eyes suddenly started to glow faintly as they changed back to Onii-San's regular green color. "I'm done here. Too exhausted. You'll need Onii-San to help with the rest." His eyes suddenly became void of all crimson color and returned to Onii-San's green eye color as his body collapsed on the floor.

"Ugh. What hit me?" Onii-San asked as he finally returned to his _normal _self, pulling himself from the floor. "And why am I covered in blood? Is that a _lung_?" he asked seeing something that looked like a pink meaty pancake on the floor a short distance from where he sat.

Amber finally calmed down enough and looked around. "Who are you guys? And why are _you_ soaked in blood?"

"Wish I knew," Onii-San said as he tried to wring the blood from his jacket, with little to no success.

"Amber, its me. Jonny," he said as he leaned in and held her hands, hoping that somehow she'd recognize him after all these years.

Amber's eyes widened. "Jonny... Jonny it is you! I thought I'd never see you again! But why are you so old now?"

"Touching," Naruto said as the two hugged. "But we _really_ kind of need to get out of here."

Onii-San had only managed to wring a thirty-secondth of the blood from his jacket as he forced himself to his feet. "Jonny, grab Amber and lets go."

"Can't I walk by myself?" Amber asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You've been comatose for nearly two decades," Onii-San said. "Your joints are bound to be a little stiff."

However his warning came too late as Amber tried to get off the bed herself and land on her face. "Point taken. Wait! Did you say two _decades_?"

"Wait what about the others!" Naruto said as Jonny carried Amber out the door.

"We don't have time for them now!" Onii-San said as he motioned to the hallway.

"But we can't just leave them behind!" Naruto argued. "They need help too!"

The sound of footsteps could be heard down the hall. That wasn't a very good sign.

"Naruto! I'll get them out of here! I promise!" Onii-San shouted as he shuffled down the hallway. "Now c'mon! Lets go!"

Naruto looked back to the helpless patients. Then after a minute he finally began moving forward. "Fine. Lets go."

* * *

After busting out of the comatose ward, the four of them came upon the last door before getting back to the roof.

"How're we gonna get past this thing?" Amber asked as she looked up at the door before them. It was armor-plated obviously, and had two control panels with new-generation Jack In ports.

"You'll have to jack in through both ports and disarm the door's lock programs simulaneously," Onii-San said examining the door with a scrutinous eye.

"Alright Onii-San. Lets get through this door and get out of here," Jonny said as he pulled out his PET, ready to get the job done.

"No can do," Onii-San said shaking his head. "Anonymous is too exhausted from the Mental CrossFusion. He couldn't even take out a _Mettuar _if his life depended on it."

"Then how're we gonna get through this door!?!" Jonny demanded. Under the given circumstances, anyone would be angry, even at their boss.

Onii-San pulled out a pink and violet PET. The NaviMark on it was that of a flower with the Four Suits (Spade, Club, Heart, and Diamond) as the petals.

"What is that?" Amber asked as she looked at the device Onii-San held in his hand.

"Your new PET," Onii-San said as he handed it out to her. "Newest generation too."

She quickly snatched it from his hands and turned it on. "This thing is so cool. How long was I out?"

"About eighteen years," Jonny whispered, hoping to break the news to his sister at a later time.

"Your navi has been transferred into the new PET and is ready for use," Onii-San said. "She may be a little stiff from lack of use, but she should be able get the job done. We'll get her systems re-formatted later if you want it as well."

Amber turned on the PET and looked at the navi she had received when she was but a child. "Roulette? Is that you?" she asked the hologram that came up.

The navi opened its eyes sleepily. "Amber? Is it really you?"

Roulette was a tall, slender navi that appeared to be dressed as a wizard, and wearing primarily pink and violet colors. The navi's body was thin and thick at some parts in a similar manner to SamuraiMan. It was thin at the neck, arms, legs, hips, and had pointed feet. Its face was in a shroud, violet spikes pointing out of the top and sides. Objects seemed to be flowing in and out of its sleeves in a regulated pattern; strangely designed dice in its right, cards in the left.

"Thank you so much!" Amber said putting an arm over Onii-San's shoulder and hugging him. "I never I thought I'd see Roulette again."

Naruto pulled out a kunai and threw it down the hall between the eyes of a Grave member, causing him to fall to the ground and slowly bleed out, discouraging other Grave members from going out into the open. "You guys gonna get that door open or not? 'Cause I don't have infinite kunai you know."

Onii-San sighed as he reached into his pocket and took out a small piece of chalk. "After this, I'm going to need a _month's _vacation. No joke."

Rveryone turned to Onii-San as he began drawing a circle with triangles on the inside and strange letters on the floor. After completing it, he clapped his hands together with whatever physical strength he could muster and placed them atop the circle. The next moment blue lighting began to spread from the circle and into the walls. Suddenly, chunks of metal, concrete, etc. began to barricade the corridor between them and the Grave members like a child had just squeezed the walls in of a doll house.

"Woah! What in the world was that?!" everyone asked all at once.

"Too tired," Onii-San said as he slumped onto the floor, unable to move at the moment. "Just get that door open and get us out of here. I only have enough energy for one more trick, and I have a feeling we'll _need _it if we want to get out of here alive."

Everyone nodded. While Naruto picked Onii-San up and supported him over his shoulder, Jonny and Amber readied their PETs.

"SamuraiMan! Jack In! Power up!" Jonny said as he sent SamuraiMan into the DoorComp.

"Roulette! Jack In! Power up!" Amber said as she sent Roulette into the Door Comp.

* * *

In a flash of light, both SamuraiMan and Roulette had jacked into Grave's RoofDoor cyber space. It looked pretty much like any other cyber space, except it was red and a bit gothic-looking.

"Sister. It is good to see you again," SamuraiMan said with a bow as he materialized.

"And I you brother," Roulette said with a slight bow as she finished materializing as well. "Uh... What happened to your head?"

Something I may've forgotten to mention before was that Naruto had put a few dents in SamuraiMan's helmet during their fight. Of course that kind of thing tends to happen when you hit a metal helmet with a dangerous weapon like nunchucks.

"Don't ask," SamuraiMan grumbled as he looked around for the control mechanisms.

Roulette looked behind her and saw two large towers, one read and one blue, which were obviously the door controls. "There they are!" she said as she began running towards the blue tower.

"Then that leaves the red for me," SamuraiMan said as he ran for the red tower.

However, just before either could reach their respective towers, thousands upon thousands of viruses of varying types began to pour into the cyber space, forcing the two of them into the center back-to-back.

"Sir Jonny, Lady Amber, we appear to have a problem," SamuraiMan said into his Comm link as he put his hands on his swords. "Hundreds of viruses have suddenly appeared, and they don't seem to want to let us get to those controls."

"_Well you guys need to solve it pronto!" _Amber screamed desperately. _"Those mask-wearing freaks are breaking down the barricade!"_

"_Look! Just find a way to stop them long enough so that you can open the doors!" _Jonny ordered. _"We don't have much time either."_

Roulette sighed as she held her cards and dice in her hands. "Well brother, looks like even after all these years, we _still _need to bail those two out of trouble. Just like when they were kids."

"I know sister," SamuraiMan said, "but how're we supposed to fight all of these viruses? There are too many of them."

"_SamuraiMan. Do you read?" _an angry-sounding voice said over the Comm Link.

"Milord?" SamuraiMan asked.

"_Damn straight its me! Now listen up! If you screw this up, I'll bring you back just so I can delete you myself! Now fight those viruses with every ounce of strength you have!"_

"That's some boss you have there," Roulette said with a chuckle.

"Funny thing is he _isn't _joking," SamuraiMan said, paling behind his mask. "Lord Anonymous tends to be a little irrational when it comes to failure."

The cards in Roulette's hand transformed into a slender sword, and the die in her other transformed into flying probes with tiny spikes coming out of them.

At the same time, the slats in SamuraiMan's helmet began glowing rainbow colors. He drew his twin swords, then clasped them together combining them into one blade. As the edge closest to the hilt slowly turned black with stars and galaxy-patterns swirling within it, he lunged forward at the viruses before him.

As Roulette flew across the field slashing at viruses with her CardSword, her DiceProbes were flying about the field in random directions goring viruses as they could. While the DiceProbes could delete the smaller ones easily, it took a good couple slashes from the CardSword to delete the larger ones.

At the same time, SamuraiMan slashed at enemies with his blade while bending and twisting past their attacks. As he did so, the edge of the blade became half-way black.

"What's the matter brother?" Roulette asked as she swung in a wide arc deleting several mettuar, "You getting soft on me?"

"Do not take my skills lightly," SamuraiMan said as his blades turned completely black, and his entire body glowed with a rainbow aura and the entire cyber world became slightly darker, making his glowing all the brighter. "Final Smash! Meido Zangetsuha!"

SamuraiMan swung his blade in a straight downward arc, sending a black shockwave through the air. The viruses dodged out of the way of the attack, but the shockwave suddenly exploded into an enormous sphere, looking like a window into outer space. Before anyone could even blink, the black sphere began sucking in large amounts of viruses before collapsing in on itself and disappearing completely, taking the viruses to who knows where.

"Okay then . . . " Roulette said paling at SamuraiMan's display of power. "I guess you've improved a bit."

"A bit?" SamuraiMan said with a raised eyebrow as a large wolf-like virus leapt at him from behind, only to be cleaved in half vertically by a wide horizontal swing.

_What the heck!? He sliced him horizontally! How'd he slice him vertically?! _Roulette asked herself.

In the moment of SamuraiMan's devastating attack, nearly half of the viruses were deleted, however even more viruses suddenly materialized into the cyber space a moment later.

"This doesn't look good," SamuraiMan said to himself as the glowing aura faded and his swords returned to normal.

"So... You got any _other _bright ideas?" Roulette asked, hoping her brother had a solution to this problem.

As SamuraiMan thought to himself, the viruses began to close in around them, making it so that the only thing that could be seen in any direction was either the floor, each other, or the hordes of viruses.

"We could try _that _technique," SamuraiMan suggested.

At that comment Roulette smacked herself in the forehead. "Now why didn't _I _think of that?"

The next moment the viruses lunged at them. At the same time SamuraiMan and Roulette's eyes streamed across with binary code.

"Card Trick!" Roulette shouted as she released pink energy waves from her sleeves, trapping the viruses in cards of various suit and number.

At the same time, SamuraiMan lunged at the cards with his blades drawn. "Swords Dance!"

"Combined Attack!" they both shouted as Roulette released a massive energy wave at all the remaining viruses, turning them into cards. "Cutting the Deck!"

In a quick flurry of movement, SamuraiMan had cleaved all the viruses trapped in cards to ribbons.

"Roulette! To the controls!" SamuraiMan shouted as he ran for the blue tower. "We can't risk any more viruses showing up!"

"Got it!" Roulette replied as she ran for the red tower.

"_Guys! The door to the roof is open!" _Naruto shouted from the other end of the line.

"_We're leaving now! SamuraiMan Jack Out!" _Jonny ordered.

"_Lets get going! I don't want to be here any longer then I have to! Roulette Jack Out" _Amber called as well.

* * *

A half-minute later Naruto blasted a hole through the roof with his Rasengan and pulled Jonny and Amber up. He then leapt back down and scooped Onii-San up before depositing him onto the roof. By then the entire base was under lock down, and the Grave agents that were still alive were preparing to deal with the intruders.

"So how're we going to get out of here?" Amber asked. "And who are you?"

"Your brother's boss," Onii-San said. "Now stand back and prepare to be amazed," he said as he bit his right thumb and began forming hand signs at a lightning-fast speed.

_Is this a-_ was as far as Naruto got before-

"Summoning Jutsu!" Onii-San roared as he placed both palms on the snow-covered roof. Suddenly there was an immense blast of smoke that nearly knocked everyone off their feet. When the smoke cleared, Onii-San stood before a giant, black and silver-feathered horned owl the size of a house. Its talons had gold armor on them, and its right eye had a large eye patch with a silver eye pattern on it.

_A summon?_ Naruto thought as he looked up at the large creature in total awe.

"Hello old friend," Onii-San said exhausted. _I'm just glad I had enough strength for this last trick._

The giant owl _hooed_. "Hoooo?"

"Yeah, don't ask," Onii-San said as though he understood what the owl had said. "Can you give us a lift?"

The giant owl turned around on its feet and lowered its tail feathers. It seemed that the Grave members had yet to notice the giant owl on the roof.

"He says get on," Onii-San said as Jonny and Amber helped him onto the owl's back.

"Who _are _you?" Naruto asked Onii-San, amazed at the size of the Owl Summon, and the fact that he could _summon_ at all. Not to mention all the _other _stuff he had done that night.

"Just a regular guy," Onii-San said with a smile on his face. Although in reality it was very far from the truth, but he just didn't know it.

Naruto sighed as he climbed up onto the own and helped Amber hold on.

"Lets go!" Onii-San said as he took up the reigns behind the Owl's head (which weren't _literal _reigns, but were simply a pair of thick feathers). There was a giant hooing sound as the owl spread its wings and pushed them down. After five flaps, the giant owl took flight and into the sky.

From below, the Grave base began mobilizing its aerial units. They had finally brought themselves together into a cohesive unit, and they weren't just about to let these intruders get away.

"Onii-San! We're under attack!" Naruto said as he threw an exploding kunai into an anti-air missile that had come right at them, thankfully stopping it before it reached its intended target.

Onii-San pulled out his slightly blood-covered PET and put in a call. "Don't worry. I have backup in the ringer."

A second later however, a dozen helicopters surrounded the giant Owl Summon, leaving them no chance to escape.

"What now genius!?!?" Amber demanded as she held onto her brother, thinking that this was the end.

Suddenly, laser blasts came out of the sky and shot down three of the helichopters, giving the large owl enough room to fly out of the formation and into the distance.

"What was that?" Naruto said as he watched the flaming remains crash to the ground before exploding, killing any unfortunate Grave member who happened to be near them.

Everyone looked up and saw a large red and black armored fighter jet, divided into a top and bottom half. There were two wings pointing forward on both halves, the cockpit positioned just in front of the engines that were mounted on both halves, and a laser cannon mounted in the center.

Naruto's trained eyes could see what looked like a grey and white-furred humanoid wolf inside with something that looked like a scouter over his left eye piloting the ship.

"Woah. Who is that guy?" Amber asked as the owl summon put more distance between itself and the base each passing second. The ship that appeared shooting down helicopters and ground-based missile launchers behind them.

"His name's Wolf," Onii-San said as he put his PET back in his jacket.

"Very imaginative," Naruto answered sarcastically.

Onii-San bopped Naruto on the head for that comment with what little strength he had left. "I met him a while back and called for his help if it was needed. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have even _considered _sanctioning this operation."

"You mean this would've happen from the _start_!" Naruto demanded.

"_Could've_," Onii-San corrected.

"Lets just get out of here," Jonny said as he held his sister tighter to him and gripped the owl's feathers.

"Yeah, I've had enough of that place too," Amber said. And for obvious reasons at that.

The Owl Summon hooed once more before shooting off into the distance. The mission at the Grave base had ended. And with most of its operatives either incapacitated or dead, they weren't going to do anything for a long time.

* * *

A couple hours of flying later, and the giant owl summon had finally made its way back to the NME base. Naruto was so busy trying to keep everyone on its back that he didn't have time to take note of where the base even _was_.

As the owl summon swooped down into the hangar through the extra-wide doors, Serenity came in with a wheelchair, some food, and a new set of clothes.

"Welcome back Onii-San," she said as Naruto helped Onii-San off the owl's back. "I assume you had a good outing?"

"Eh. More or less," Onii-San shrugged weakly as he collapsed onto the wheelchair. "Boy am I tired."

As Jonny and Amber got down, the giant owl hooed in a more _urgent_ matter.

Onii-San yawned before regarding the large owl summon. "Oh right, thank you Osugami. Without you we would've never gotten out of there."

The large owl hooed once more, then preened the underside of his wing. The next moment he plucked out a loose black and silver feather and passed it to Onii-San, causing him to look up in surprise. The feather itself was quite large, and of course that was to be expected since the owl was the size of a _house_.

"You really want me to have this?" he asked looking up at the large owl, almost like he didn't have any problem with talking to the large bird in the first place.

The large owl nodded, then turned its head all the way around its shoulders.

"Very well then. I accept this gift," Onii-San said holding the large feather. "You're dismissed."

The large owl hooed once more before dispelling in a massive column of smoke.

"_Wow_," Amber said as Jonny helped her to her feet. "I've never seen an owl _that _big before."

"Me neither," Jonny said. "But you tend to get used to it. Sort of."

"Ah, Amber Dawn Largent, I have a set of clothes for you," Serenity said, passing Amber a hanger with one of her suits on it.

"Um. _Thanks_?" Amber said skeptically as she eyed the suit. "Not really my style though."

"It's only until we can get you some new clothes," Jonny said reassuringly. "Now hurry up and change, otherwise you'll catch a cold since you're only wearing a medical gown."

Amber sighed as she headed for the door. "Well, I guess I'll go and get dressed then."

As Jonny and Amber left the hangar, Naruto walked up to Onii-San. Obviously with questions he wanted answered.

"Onii-San. Just who are you _really_?" Naruto asked in a very demanding ton. "That was _definitely _a summoning jutsu you used back there. And what was that thing you did with the magic circle?"

Before he could get his answer however, Onii-San had already fallen fast asleep in the wheelchair. It was obvious from how instantaneous it was that he'd be out for a few days at _least_.

"Once I get him to bed, I'll escort you back to the Hikari residence," Serenity said as she wheeled Onii-San out of the hangar. "I do ask that you not stray too far. For personal reasons, we'd like to keep the location of this base a secret."

"Okay. Got it," Naruto said as he followed Serenity out of the hangar and took a seat on a nearby bench in the hallway. "I just hope Onii-San keeps his promise," he said to himself as Serenity and Onii-San disappeared around a corner. "I don't like the thought of just _leaving _those people there."

* * *

A few days later, a set of auto-piloted vans parked in front of the Den Tech Hospital. To everyone's shock upon discovery, they were filled with dozens of comatose patients awaiting _actual_ treatment.

The only traces of the vehicle's owner was a crisp white business card in the driver's seat of the lead van that read-

**New Mystery Enterprises  
****Changing the world, one act random of kindness at a time.**

Aside from that was, no other evidence anywhere to be found. Not even fingerprints, which surprised people even more.

Underneath the card were the comatose patient's documents, and the records that they had been used by Grave for experimentation.

Police Chief Keifer was happy that the location to the secret Grave laboratory was included. The materials used had to be repossessed and returned to their rightful owners. Chaud however nearly shit a gold brick when herealized that what _he_ had been trying to do for _years _upon jointing the Net Police, the "weirdo" who came out of nowhere accomplished it in a day (even though in reality it was a lot more than that).

Jonny was reunited with his sister Amber after nearly two decades (eighteen years to be precise), and the terms of Onii-San's contract to him was finally fulfilled.

However something that was a surprise was that Amber, after being out cold for eighteen years, wanted to work for Onii-San as well. This came as a shock to the both of them, but Jonny eventually agreed to it. Onii-San was happy to have a new operative on board too,and so that the two of them could always be together in the field, Onii-San gave Amber the title Combat Assistant, and assigned her to work with Jonny who was NME's Trouble Shooter.

Naruto was just happy to be done with the whole Grave business. The end result that he wouldn't have to worry about the risk of his powerful blood circulating through Grave's hands anymore (Pun not intended). He was also happy that Onii-San had kept his promise, and knew that he could trust him in the foreseen future.

* * *

**For those of you who've just read this fic, and have or have not figured out where the prequel is, I'll just shed some light on that issue (also as for why this FanFic is in the MegaMan section, and not specifically in any CrossOver sections).**

**While this story borrows elements from other series (Naruto, SSB Brawl, etc.), all events take place in the MegaMan Battle Network universe, placed after the events in MegaMan Beast. It is for that reason the the sequel to Naruto E.X.E. has been placed **_**here**_**. I hope that cleared up any questions.**

**As for the _prequel_, it is where it is because that was the first FanFic I wrote, and I didn't know enough about "placement" back then.**

**Also, if you're trying to figure out how Onii-San/Anonymous justify their **_**actions**_**, the answer will come up in a later chapter.**

* * *

**And now for the disclaimers.**

**The characters Jonny Lee Largent and SamuraiMan are both the property of Jlargent.  
****Amber Dawn Largent and Roulette are both the property of Ember Goldenscale. **

**Osugami, the giant Owl Summon is a character under my ownership, as is the concept of the Mental-CrossFusion chip. (I'll eventually get to where Osugami came from, just not any time soon.)**

**DeviantArt Noe:  
****On my DeviantArt profile is a picture of the jet that Jonny and the others used (which since I came up with the concept myself means it's an idea under my ownership).**

* * *

**100 Rules of Anime Column**

**Anime Rule # 15- Law of Inexhaustibility - No one EVER runs out of ammunition. That is of course unless they are cornered, out-numbered, out-classed, and/or unconscious.**

**Anime Rule # 27 - Law of Conservation of Firepower - Any weapon capable of destroying/defeating an opponent/opponents in a single shot will invariably be reserved and used as a last resort.**

**Anime Rule #44 - Law of Nominative Clamovocation - The likelihood of success and damage done by a martial arts attack is directly proportional to the volume at which the full name of the attack is announced (known as the Kamehameha effect). **

* * *

**FanFiction Exclusive Anime Rules**

**In every evil organization, no matter how long ago the main force was defeated, a small portion will always remain active until they are defeated. *Also known as the Team Rocket Factor* (Property of Jlargent)**

**If one has a moustache of some manner, shape, or form, you automatically become an expert when using Nunchaku, nunchuks, or weapons of similar design. *Also known as the Clause Effect* (Property of NeoNazo356)**


	2. Creamland: 4 Swords

**Me: Hello folks and welcome back to Naruto EXE: Subspace. By now you've probably had ample time to either read all or _most_ of the prequel, Naruto EXE.**

**WarRock: Yup. And Co-Hosting is everyone's favorite AMian, WarRock.**

**SFX: *scuttle scuttle scuttle scuttle***

**WarRock: What wass that? *looks around***

**Me: Oh right. I didn't tell you.**

**? ? ?: *Lowers self from ceiling* Yo.**

**WarRock: *Turns around* Gyaaahhhh! *Passes out***

**Me: . . . Huh. Didn't know _that _would happen.**

**Ari: Yeah whatever. So you wanted me to co-host?**

**Me: *Looks at WarRock passed out on the floor* I think I may have to reconsider.**

**Ari: *breaking fourth wall* On a side note, NeoNazo356 apologizes to those who've already read Naruto EXE for the wait on the next sumbission. Busy busy busy. For those of you who haven't, hope you enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

Creamland, a small kingdom located somewhere in Europe, was one of the first countries to go online, however due to its small size, when larger countries went online, it was overshadowed and forgotten by the world. However, recent events such as the Zoanoroids attacking Earth, and Creamland's princes, Princess Pride, joinging valiantly to fight them off, had brought people's attention back to what they'd consider a "modern-day hamlet".

At the moment, Princess Pride, Ms. Yuri, and Ms. Tesla were all lounging in one of Pride's castle's many guest rooms with a panoramic view of the town below. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened yet concerning the massive airship that had escaped into the real world during the controversial Smash Tournament.

"So you pretty much rule all of this by yourself?" Ms. Yuri asked as she leaned back in a chair and put her feet up.

"Yes Ms. Yuri, I do rule it all," Pride admitted, but not boastfully. "And would you please get your feet off the coffee table. Its over fifty years old."

Ms. Yuri huffed as he dropped her feet to the floor and looked into her PET. "Hey NeedleMan. See if there's a TV in this place. Hanging around in a castle all day is getting a so boring, I'd rather _teach_."

"Sure," NeedleMan said as he was jacked into the CastleComp.

"Have you seen Ms. Tesla by the way?" Pride asked as she looked around.

"I think I saw her heading for the royal bathroom," Ms. Yuri sighed as she leaned back in her chair and just stared at the ceiling, hoping above all hope that castle actually had a TV.

"En suite," Pride corrected.

"Gesundheit," Ms. Yuri responded, similar to how most people do when someone says "gesundheit".

"No, I mean the royal bathroom is _called _an en suite," Pride repeated.

"Yeah, whatever," Ms. Yuri sighed. Her PET beeped before she answered it. "NeedleMan. You find a TV yet."

"Yeah. There's one in the game room down the hall," NeedleMan said. "Hey Pride, mind if I challenge KnightMan to a NetBattle. I'm afraid if I sit here and do nothing for too long that I'll start getting _dull_. Hehe. Dull. I crack myself up."

"I wouldn't mind in the least," Pride said as she took out her own PET and sent KnightMan into the GameRoomComp. "Although your taste in humor leaves much to be desired."

"Fft, whatever," NeedleMan huffed as he shot off.

**Author's Note:  
****When I'm not "formally" addressing Princess Pride, I will call her Pride. The same principal goes for Ms. Yuri and Ms. Tesla.**

* * *

In the GameRoom cyber world, KnightMan readied his mace as NeedleMan readied his needle cannon.

"You ready to get stabbed?" NeedleMan asked as he flared out his spikes.

"Surely you jest," KnightMan said as he swung his mace over his head before slamming it into the ground before creating a small crater for dramatic effect. "After all I _am _a knight, and I must not fail my princess."

"Well this aughta be interesting," a relaxed voice said from the background. "By the way, this country's cyber-security is around sub-standard."

KnightMan looked behind him to see Anonymous leaning back against one of the cyber world's decorative white pillars. "How did you get past the castle's firewall without setting off any alarms?" he demanded.

Anonymous smirked as as he got up and dusted off his jacket. "Tell ya what, if you and _pinhead_ over there can beat me in a two-on-one NetBattle, then _maybe_ I'll be inclined to tell you. If you lose, you won't get a _thing _from me. Deal?"

KnightMan narrowed his eyes at this apparent challenge from the mysterious NetNavi. "Very well then. I shall fight for the honor of my princess, and my country."

NeedleMan smirked as he raised his right arm to Anonymous. "Lets start things off right. Needle Arm!"

A volley of needles were launched at Anonymous, only to be sliced like radishes at the end of a crimson-mounted obsidian-colored blade that was similar in design to ProtoMan's ProtoSword, but more fierce-looking. "Is that the best you got?" he asked lazily as he disengaged his weapon.

NeedleMan's eyes narrowed as he lunged right at Anonymous headfirst. "Needle Strike!"

Anonymous responded by catching NeedleMan's main spike with both hands, raided him above his head and slamming him into the ground head-first. "Kinda redundant really."

"Mffff mfffff mfffff!" NeedleMan cursed as he tried in vain to get his head out of the ground, only to find himself completely stuck.

At that moment, KnightMan loomed over Anonymous and swung his giant mace straight down. "Knight Swing!"

Anonymous smirked at KnightMan's apparent surprise attack against him. However, the moment Anonymous left KnightMan's field of vision, there was a flash of yellow light before the mace drove him into the ground.

"There. I win," KnightMan said as the smoke hid Anonymous from view. "Now tell me how you breached the firewall."

Anonymous smirked. "Now who said you won yet?"

KnightMan's eyes widened as the smoke cleared, revealing Anonymous standing his ground, apart from his feet being in to mini-craters up to hia ankles. "Impossible! I hit you head-on!"

"Hey, even without using my hands, I'm _still _miles ahead of you in strength," Anonymous smirked as a faint yellow glow issued from beneath the mace away from KnightMan's field of vision. "Crown... Head... Spli_tter_!"

The next moment KnightMan's mace was torn in half straight down the middle followed by an immediagte explosion, causing him to stumble backwards in surprise. "What in the world was that attack?"

As the smoke cleared from the explosion, Anonymous was revealed to now be wearing a yellow pointed helmet pointing upwards, split down the middle from the sides (the ends pointing to the front and back). The helmet had black grooves going up its length and to the eyes, which now had fierce-looking red lenses over them, and a line of broad fangs covering his lower face except for his chin. He also wore a yellow jump suit with black lines extending from the center of the NaviMark, which bore a side-profile of his helmet, to his arms and boots which were yellow and spiked with black armor on the front. He wore spiked armor around his waist, and had two triangular shoulder pads matching the theme of its pointed helmet which clicked back together making a few sparks.

"Like it?" Anonymous smirked from under his helmet as he gestured to the armor he was now wearing. "I call it Style Change: King Kittan. Now that I'm _public_, I can actually try this stuff out."

KnightMan narrowed his eyes again as he saw that NeedleMan was still stuck in the ground. "Even with your Style Change, I will still beat you. In the name of my princess!"

Anonymous placed his arms behind his back and activated a powerful set of Inhibitors to himself, effectively keeping the restraints on him until he saw fit to remove them. "Then lets continue this NetBattle. And like I said before, I won't even _need_ my arms to beat you."

A large broadsword materialized on KnightMan's arm to replace the mace he'd lost and swung it around. "Then have at you worthy adversary!"

Anonymous smirked as he spread his feet. "Then bring it on big guy."

KnightMan leapt at Anonymous and swung his sword in a downward arc at his right shoulder, only for Anonymous to tilt his head slightly to the right and stop the attack effortlessly with the tip of his helmet. KnightMan lifted his sword and tried to swing at Anonymous' unguarded left side, but was stopped when Anonymous used his left shoulder-spike to stop the attack near-effortlessly. KnightMan swung multiple times at Anonymous' "unguarded" sides to get at him, but every time Anonymous used one of the spikes adorning his body (either on his head, shoulders, or feet/legs) to stop the attack, all the while not using his arms.

KnightMan swung downward again, getting agitated of the manner in which he was being toyed with, but Anonymous reared his head back before breaking the end of the sword off with the point of his helmet with a powerful forward thrust. "Okay I think I've seen enough. Time for the finishing blow."

Anonymous suddenly leapt backwards onto one of the pillars before lunging at KnightMan headfirst after pushing off with his legs, shattering the pillar with tremendous force. "KITTAN STINGER!"

Before KnightMan could even blink, Anonymous had thrust his pointed helmet straight through the armor just below his NaviMark and sent him falling backwards, crashing to the ground with a loud thud.

"Princess Pride. I've failed you," KnightMan said as he awaited Anonymous' finishing blow.

"Oh quit griping you big pansy," Anonymous spat as he broke the restraints on his arms before unlodging himself from KnightMan's chest. "I just wanted to see how strong you were, and to tell the truth, I'm a little bit disappointed. I thought a big guy like you'd be stronger, but I guess I was wrong about that." He then tossed KnightMan a Recovery300 chip as he walked behind one of the pillars before disappearing in a flash of light.

A moment later, NeedleMan finally got himself unstuck from the ground and landed on his butt. "Finally! Now lets finish off that- Where'd he go?" he asked as he looked around, wanting to get back at Anonymous back for both the _pinhead _comment and the whole sticking-him-in-the-ground head-first thing.

"As much as it shames me to admit, he got away,"KnightMan said as he got up and used the offered Recovery chip to begin to restore the damage he had received in the battle.

"Damn. We got _owned_," NeedleMan whined as he got a chunk of rubble off the spike on his head. "How 'bout we _not _tell anyone about this. Bad enough I got wedged in the ground like an iron spike, but that you got totally owned by a guy hardly a fifth your size."

"Normally I'd be opposed to keeping secrets from my princess," KnightMan said as he dusted himself off as the total damage was nearly repaired. "But in _this_ case, I think it'd be better to keep quiet. If I were to tell Princess Pride how easily I was beaten, she would be most disappointed in me."

"Yeah. And plus MagnetMan would never let us hear the end of it," NeedleMan said crossing his arms with a huff. "Where do you think he is anyway?"

A few minutes later, a large hole opened up in the ground between them before MagnetMan, bound by what seemed to be _underpants_, was thrown out of it and landed beside them.

"MagnetMan?" NeedleMan asked as he used one of his spikes to undo the binding around his eyes. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Some yellow-spike-armored guy challenged me to a NetBattle out of nowhere," MagnetMan said as he tried to undo the restraints across his body. "Before I could even say _magnet_, he'd already given me an atomic wedgie. And _then _he ended up giving me _seventy _different _types _of wedgie on me before leaving."

"There are _seventy _different types of wedgie?" NeedleMan said shocked, trying to figure out just how many ways you _could _yank a person's underwear out of their pants and torture them with them. Or for that matter, how he did it to a _NetNavi_ in the first place.

"We will _definitely _not be telling our NetOps about this mess," KnightMan said as he crossed his arms before sitting down. "_Plus_, the other Net Savior Net Navis would never let us live it down as well."

"Yeah, especially that cocky TomahawkMan," SpikeMan regarded. "With his big mouth, he'll have it through Netopia before lunch."

* * *

An hour or so later back in the real world, Pride, Yuri, and Tesla were all in the castle's living room, which was decorated like the castle of a modern-day monarchy would, surfing through the TV channels trying to find something good to watch.

"Damn. There's nothing good on," Yuri groaned as she tossed the remote to Pride. "Even with five hundred channels, everything's shit."

"Ms. Yuri!" Princess Pride said shocked. "Such language is unladylike!"

"Yeah whatever," Yuri moaned as she grabbed a nearby pillow and covered her eyes before settling off into a nap.

"By the way, I haven't heard from our navis for a while. You think something happened to them?" Tesla asked, a bit concerned for the well-being of their NetNavis.

"I don't know. I'll check," Pride said as she looked into her PET. "KnightMan, is everything all right in there?"

KnightMan immediately froze, acting as though he had something to hide. He'd already replaced the footage from the security cameras, but if he suddenly blurted out what had happened, he'd possibly never hear the end of it. "Um, nothing is amiss Princess Pride," he said with a bow. "Please, go about your royal lounging. No need to check up on us. Good-bye."

Pride put a hand to her chin before closing the PET. "Well, if KnightMan says he's okay, the I have no reason do doubt him."

As Yuri surfed through the channels, a Cream Land news bulletin came up.

**"****This just in!" **the news reporter read, a panicked look on his face as his hair was messed up and his tie was crooked. **"We have received visual of the unknown airship that appeared in a flash of light over Den Tech City just a couple weeks ago, and have confirmed that it's heading right this way!"**

The screen changed to the prow of the Halberd heading straight for Cream Land airspace. Underneath, you could just barely see the bomb-bay doors opening.

**"****All citizens are urged to remain indoors and allow the proper authorities to handle this situation!" **the news reporter said, still panicking. **"In the extreme case that this is another full-on invasion, everyone is asked to grab whatever they can and run as fast as you can!"**

The next moment the TV signal was cut off at the same time a massive flash of light shone from the outside window. Pride quickly ran over and saw that one of the Halberd's cannons had just taken out the primary communication tower in a single shot.

* * *

A few minutes later outside Princess Pride's castle. The more timid servants of the castle were flooding out of the massive double doors, while the more loyal ones chose to go down with their princess, which is actually quite admirable under such circumstances (even if they were completely unbelievable).

As Princess Pride, Ms. Yuri, and Ms. Tesla ran out the doors with their PETs in hand, a massive shadow suddenly moved over the entire castle and headed for the town at the bottom of the hill from Pride Castle.

"Holy cow..." Ms. Yuri said as her jaw dropped as the Halberd was nearly on top of the city at the base of the castle. "That thing's humongous!"

"Princess!" KnightMan cried from his PET. "I've received confirmation that a Dimensional Area will be materialized in a matter of minutes, however cosmic radiation is causing some lag in the transportation process. We'll need to get there within the next ten minutes if we want to be ther in time to Cross Fuse."

Princess Pride nodded as she put her fingers in her mouth and let out an ear-piercing whistle. The next moment a thin butler with a moustache pulled up in a black luxury vehicle. "You called Princess Pride."

Before she could even answer, Ms. Yuri had already grabber her and Tesla, thrown them into the back seats, and knocked the butler into the passenger seat as she put on her signature pair of black sunglasses and a pair of black gloves with no knuckles. "Strap in girls! I'm driving!"

The next moment the smell of burning rubber filled the air as Ms. Yuri peeled out of the castle courtyard at highway speeds.

* * *

As Ms. Yuri pulled into town by a coffee shop, a few people in town were still evacuating, mostly women and children. As Princess Pride, Ms. Tesla, and the butler crawled out of the car while shaking like leaves, a white laser headed to the airspace over the town, a few hundred feet over the Halberd. In a flash of light, the laser burst in all directions forming the Dimensional Area like a curtain as it formed the hexagonal-dome. At the same time, the Halberd was somehow hovering in the air, and had fully opened the bomb-bay doors releasing thousands of Shadow Bugs.

"People of Cream Land, please move to the edge of the Dimensional Area in a calm and orderly fashion," Princess Pride shouted over the crowd.

It didn't help, as everyone was still panicking and running around like chickens with their heads cut off. The next moment Ms. Yuri pulled out a Cross Fusion chip and put it in her PET.

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" she screamed in her Cross Fused form, which in the current situation was very scary.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!" everyone screamed as they ran to the edges of the Dimensional Area, scattering like cockroaches when you turn the light on.

"Was that really necessary?" Princess Pride asked as she was about to put her own Cross Fusion chip in her PET.

"Yes. Yes it was," CF Yuri said curtly as Ms. Tesla put her own Cross Fusion chip in her PET.

A few minutes later, the thousands of Shadow Bugs had finally settled around the center of town. As the puddles began to gravitate towards each other, a large army of primids began to rise. This time however there were sword-wielding and bazooka-wielding primids among their ranks.

"Lets get this party started then," CF Yuri said as she transformed her arm and used NeedleMan's Needle Arm to launch a volley of spikes at the sword-wielding primids, only to have them be sent right back at her. "Yaah!" she yelped as her own spikes suddenly came back at her, however at the very last moment CF Tesla stepped in front of her, placed her hands in front of her.

"Magnet Barrier!" she said as she created a purple barrier of energy around her and CF Yuri, causing the reflected spikes to bounce harmlessly off before disappearing.

"Uh, thanks," CF Yuri said as she opted for a short-range weapon.

CF Pride swung her Kingdom Crusher into an incoming row of sword primids, only to be grazed by several hits from the scope primids. She quickly launched her Kingdom Crusher into a crowd of scope primids before activating her Long Sword and began slashing at the primids.

CF Tesla wildly launched Mag Balls and Magnet Missiles in an attempt to force the primids back, but every time she knocked one down, another would just take its place.

CF Yuri leapt into the air and began spinning wildly, shooting large needles in all directions, but was knocked out of the air by several charged blasts from the large number of scope primids.

"Guys, we're starting to run out of options here," CF Pride said as she suddenly bumped into the other's backs.

"Isn't this usually the point where a knight or a swordsman, or even a mage or something swoop in and save the day," CF Tesla asked hopefully.

"You've been handing around the _princess_ too long if you believe the whole knight-in-shining-armor bit," CF Yuri said bluntly.

* * *

At the same time high in the sky above Cream Land, a weary Meta Knight had finally caught up to his stolen airship. As he swooped downward towards the dome, he spread his wings to stop himself from hitting it face-first as he landed silently.

He gently set himself down and maintained his balance as he placed his palm against the odd surface of the Dimensional Area and gave it a push.

"Hmm. I doubt I'll be able to break through this on my own," Meta Knight said to himself. "But then again, I don't really need to go _through _it."

The next moment he grabbed the side of his cape and spun around until it twisted itself into nothingness, and he disappeared into thin air.

* * *

Back with the Net Saviors, things weren't going too well, and what was about to happen was about to make things even worse.

"Guys. What's that thing doing?" Yuri asked as she pointed to the Halberd high above them.

On the top of the ship, a large yellow-painted cannon mounted on the top opened up, a large barrel folding out. The next moment a massive blue energy beam shot out and broke right through the Dimensional Area, shattering it like glass.

"Oh no!" Princess Pride cried as her armor turned back into KnightMan's PET, the same thing happening to Ms. Yuri and Ms. Tesla. As their armor disappeared, all of the remaining sword primids closed in on the three of them for the kill. At the same time, the scope primids on the roofs took aim in case their sword-wielding brethren didn't get the job done.

"Things don't look good," Princess Pride said as she tried to back away, only to bump into the backs of Ms. Yuri and Ms. Tesla. At that moment, just the sword primids were about to strike, something gleamed in the sky above, and a valiant voice rung through the air.

"Great..." Suddenly a silhouette leapt into the air and caught the gleaming object, which was a massive sword that had been thrown into the air. "Aether!" the voice finished as the person grabbed the sword, slammed into the ground, crushing several primids beneath his feet, and swinging his massive sword in a wide arc destroying a dozen primids in one swing.

"Woah," was all the three Net Saviors could say as the mysterious figure took hold of his sword and cast his gaze across the several dozen primid that still remained.

"Are you three alright?" the mysterious figure asked. He had dark blue hair, matching eyes, and appeared as though he were around fifteen years of age or so. He wore a dark blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up and yellow trim on the collar and edges, white pants, brown leather armor he wore over the left side of his chest, and a red cape that flowed behind him. On his feet he wore brown leather boots with black greaves and metal tips, and black gloves on his hands that had metal plates on the backs. In his hands he held a massive two-handed sword with a gold blade, and a black hilt with a green gem in the center.

"Hey look out!" Ms. Yuri shouted as the scope primids on the roofs took aim at the sword-wielder. The next moment there were as series of snapping sounds, and the scope primids on the roofs suddenly had white-feathered arrows between their eyes.

The three Net Saviors this time looked behind them and saw a person with a bow in his hand.

"There. Got 'em all," he said. He had blond hair, blue eyes, and pointed ears, one of which he wore an earing. He was wearing a green tunic and hat, white pants and shirt, brown-leather boots, and brown gauntlets over his forearms. On his back he had a shield and sword strapped by a leather mount.

"Behind you!" Princess Pride cried as a half-dozen sword-primids suddenly leapt at the bow and arrow-wielding figure.

The next moment there was a silver flash of light as the sword primids were cut down in mid-air.

"You need to watch your back," the figure who assisted the bowman said as he sheathed his sword. This figure had blue hair and eyes, dark blue armor with gold trim, a blue cape, a light blue shirt with he sleeves rolled up with gold trim on the sides, a brown leather belt with a gold belt buckle, and grey-blue pants and boots with light grey trim. At his side he had a silver sheath with gold ornamentation, and in his hand he held a gold-handled blade with a green gem in the end, a red gem in the hilt, and a stunning silver blade.

"I don't know who you are, but you saved us," Princess Pride said in gratitude. "May I ask your names?"

The next moment however, the sound of the Halberd's creaking bomb bay doors echoed through the air.

* * *

**A few minutes earlier, during the time the Dimensional Area was still up.**

On the tip of the Halberd, a dark blue cloak suddenly twisted itself into existence. The next moment the cloak fluttered open, and Meta Knight drew his sword.

"Hm. Looks like the Subspace Army has sent a welcoming committee," Meta Knight said as he saw at least a hundred sword primids flooding out the door to the bridge and heading right for him. "Very well then. I may as well get a little warmup in before I take my ship back."

As the sword primids charged Meta Knight began spinning his body like a twister, his sword extended as he began cutting at the sword primids. The moment Meta Knight stopped spinning, the sword primids lunged at him with swords extended, however just before he was cut, he immediately disappeared, and then appeared on top of their swords a moment later and cut at them.

The remaining four swords primids charged at him, but were quickly cut down by his mach-speed sword attacks.

"Feh. These guys are just too predictable," Meta Knight said to himself as the last sword primids degenerated back into shadow bugs.

As he looked about his ship, making sure the Subspace Army hadn't made any changes to it, the deck in front of the bridge suddenly opened, and a platform carrying three dozen scope primids rose from the depths of the Halberd. However, something was different about them, instead of yellow bazooka-like weapons, they had grery rectangular weapons, and they had black goggles with green lenses over their eyes.

"What kind of primid is that?" Meta Knight asked himself. The next moment his eyes widened and he took to the air as dozens of _missiles_ were suddenly launched at him. Before he could lunge at them, the missiles that had missed him exploded right behind him, knocking him out of the air and onto the ground. "Missile Primids. Of course," he cursed as he got back up and dusted his cape off. "As if things weren't already hare enou- Hmm?"

Meta Knight smiled beneath his mask as he saw that the missile primids were having a difficult time reloading their weapons. You could say it was kinda like a car crash on the side of the road, depressing, but you can't really look away from it.

_Ah. There's their weak point. While their weapons may be powerful, they take a very long time to reload._

Before any of the missile primids got the chance to reload, Meta Knight had already teleported into the middle of their ranks and had slashed all of them to ribbons.

"Heh. You didn't stand a chance," Meta Knight said as he brandished his sword. As he was about to enter the bridge and take the Halberd back, a loud groaning sound suddenly caught his attention.

He quickly ran over to the side of the deck and saw a massive creature drop right out of the bomb-bay doors and land right in the town situated below up to its ankles. Meta Knight's eyes widened as he realized that the towering behemoth was actually a massive Metal Primid. The only difference from the normal metal primid now was that it was over a hundred feet tall.

As the Giant Metal Primid pulled its feet out of the sewers from when it had landed, Meta Knight saw that six people were still in the town, three of which he was closely familiar with.

"Man, that things too big for the three of them to take on by themselves," Meta Knight said as he saw Ike, Link, and Marth draw their weapons and charge at the Giant Metal Primid and attack its legs, only to be swatted away like rag dolls by one swing of its massive hand.

At that moment, he felt the entire ship lurch forward, and the engines on the Halberd started up again.

"Damn. The Halberd's already leaving," Meta Knight cursed as he headed back to the bridge, but stopped and looked back down as the Giant Metal Primid started stomping off towards the six people still in the town down below.

Meta Knight looked back to the bridge of his ship, and then to the others down below who clearly had no chance of winning without reinforcements.

"Shit!" Meta Knight cursed to himself as the situation forced him to fly down and help them. As soon as he was a hundred feet away from the Halberd, its engined flared and it took off into the distance.

* * *

Ike threw his sword high into the air before leaping at it and slashing down at the Giant Metal Primid, only for his sword to make a small scratch.

Link notched his bow and began releasing a volley of arrows at that metal primid's eyes, only to have them bounce harmlessly off the metal surface. He quickly reached into the back on his back and pulled out several bombs which he threw at the metal primid's feet in rapid succession. As the smoke from the explosion cleared.

Marth leapt off an awning of one of the shops and attacked the metal primid's left flank with a series of quick stabbing attacks, only to be shrugged off like one would turn away from a gust of wind.

"Oh man! Not good!" Ms. Yuri screamed as she dodged out of the way of a thrown station wagon, courtesy of the giant metal primid. "Nothing's working!"

The next moment, a small black silhouette shot across the sky before slamming between the Giant Metal Primid's eyes, causing it to stumble backwards.

The silhouette stopped in front of everyone, revealing Meta Knight as he held his sword above his head.

"GIGA..." Meta Knight said as his sword suddenly lengthened and turned grey, "DRILL..." he said as his sword suddenly turned into a humongous double-helix-type drill. "BLADE!"

Meta Knight shot off straight into the Giant Metal Primid, a massive trail of blue, green, and yellow fire in his wake as he drove the Giant Metal Primid high into the air before drilling through him and shooting high into the sky before disappearing. Just as the Giant Metal Primid was about to fall, Meta Knight suddenly came down and drilled _another _massive hole through the Giant Metal Primid.

For a moment the Giant Metal Primid hung suspended in the air as Meta Knight came down, held his giant drill sword to his side, and as it quickly returned to normal, the Giant Metal Primid exploded in a giant ball of red and orange fire, before blowing up six more times focused in different directions, each explosion bigger then the last until all there was left was a massive smoke cloud.

"Who the hell do you think I am?" Meta Knight asked no one in particular as he sheathed his sword.

"Woahhhhhh," was all everyone else could say at the sight of that epic, heavily-drill-themed finishing move.

* * *

That night at Princess Pride's castle after the battle in the town, after more formal introductions were made.

Princess Pride knocked on the door to the en suite that Meta Knight was currently using. "Sir Meta Knight. May I come in?"

There was a splashing sound from the other side of the door. "If you must."

Princess Pride slowly opened the door. As she peeked between the cracks, she saw that Meta Knight was down to his nose in the bath, and that he was using scented bubbles. His mask, cape, and outfit hung on one of the rungs a short distance away.

"I just want to say thank you for your help today," Princess Pride said with a slight bow, since being a princess she had to act formally regardless of the circumstances. "If you hadn't helped us back then, we would've been defeated and that dreadful metal creature would've surely destroyed my country."

Meta Knight blew bubbles under the water as he remembered what he gave up to do that. "If things weren't so bad, I would've gone after my ship all the same."

"That was your ship?" Princess Pride asked as she took a seat on a nearby bench, facing away from Meta Knight for _obvious_ reasons. Or at least as obvious as I'm leading you to believe.

Meta Knight sighed. "Yes, that was my ship. It was stolen from me a while back, and I've been following it desperately to get it back ever since."

"Oh," Princess Pride said solemnly as she crossed her hands in her lap. "I didn't know what you had given up to help us. I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize," Meta Knight said with a wave of his hand. "Despite my short and round stature, I _am_ still a knight, and I am under oath to protect the princess, or _whichever _princess I happen to be around at the time."

"Well, thank you for your help anyway," Princess Pride said as she got up and prepared to leave. "I am assuming that you will be going after your ship once you have cleaned yourself up."

Meta Knight was about to answer, but his stomach began growling from under the water. "After a quick meal maybe."

Princess Pride smiled. "Very well then. I'll have my chefs prepare something to eat."

"Thank you," he said. The next moment Princess Pride left the room.

* * *

A while later, Princess Pride, Ms. Yuri, Ms. Tesla, Ike, Marth, Link, and Meta Knight all ate a lavishly prepared meal in relative peace. At the moment, much to Pride, Yuri, and Tesla's combined confusion, Ike, Marth, and Link were all staring at Meta Knight as he ate, all the while their meals getting cold.

As Meta Knight cut a piece of steak and was about to bring it to his mouth, he suddenly noticed the three pairs of eyes on him. "What!" he asked angrily with a tick mark over his left eye.

"Uh, nothing," Marth answered. "Its just that none of us have ever seen you without your mask on."

True to his word, Meta Knight wasn't wearing his mask. He essentially looked like a dark-blue version of Kirby with yellow eyes. "What, you think I'm going to lift my mask up between _bites_?"

"Uh... Maybe?" Link answered.

Meta Knight huffed as he stuffed the rest of his food into his mouth before putting his mask and cape on. "Well. I'll be off then. Good luck on your end." The next moment he grabbed his mask, spread his wings, and shot out of the nearest window and into the dark sky.

Princess Pride sighed as she got up from her seat. "Ike, Link, Marth, I would like to thank you again for all you've done."

"It was nothing much really," Ike said. "Its kinda our job by now to stop the Sub Space Army."

"Well in that case," Princess Pride said as she raised her glass up to signify a toast, "until the Subspace Army is taken care of, how'd you like to stay here in Cream Land and act as our knights."

"Um, I'm not really _knight _material," Ike admitted. "I'm more of a mercenary. Although if you ask Link, I'm sure he'd agree to it. He's practically a knight already."

"Is that so?" Ms. Tesla asked as she looked at Link's clothing. "I thought he was a really tall elf or something."

Link smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. "Oy."

"Then what of you Marth?" Princess Pride asked. "Would you like to become a knight until this issue is resolved?"

"To tell you the truth I'm already a prince," Marth said as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"Then why are you wearing a _tiara_?" Ms. Yuri asked. "Aren't tiaras usually for _princesses_?"

Marth then smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand like Link had done a moment before.

"Um... Okay then," Princess Pride said as she sat back down in her seat. "I can still offer you some rooms in the castle if you're willing to stay."

"Well, I guess so," Ike said. "We don't exactly have a place to stay anyway."

* * *

**Me: Sorry Ari, but I just don't think this arrangement will work out.**

**Ari: *shrugs* Eh, whatever. *Launched a web-line and swings away*.**

**WarRock: *groans* Oooogh. What happened?**

**Me: *face-fault* Nothing.**

* * *

**Author's Notes:  
****If I ended up using the words _town _and_ city _interchangeably, then I'll be more descriptive so as to not confuse you on how I think Cream Land looks like.**

**I think it's mostly Princess Pride's castle on the top of a tall hill surrounded by forests, and a modern town-like setting at the bottom, also surrounded by forests. **

**Scope Primids are the bazooka-wielding primids I mentioned earlier. Obiously enough, the sword-wielding primids are Sword Primids. The Missile Primids are a new sub-species of primid I just came up with.**

**Also, as for Meta Knight's 'Giga Drill Blade' attack, that's just something I saw on One More Brawl Taunts (owned by Kirbopher). While it isn't actually an attack in Meta Knight's arsenal, he's one of my favorite characters, so I decided to go with it anyway.**


	3. Sharo: Avalanche Assault

**Next chapter up.**

**P.S.  
All FanFics will be on a College-Based hiatus in two weeks time from this chapter's release.**

Towards the north tip of the world, Sharo stood as a proud, semi-militaristic country. Its main export was Rare Metal, which was used to make things from Cross Fusion chips, Dimensional Area components, and several vital parts necessary for the planet-wide Cyber World connections.

At the moment, Charilie was playing a game of solitare at the corner table while Raika continued to scope the snowy horizon with his binoculars. The reason _Baryl _was no longer there was because Netopia (America) had called him back to help deal with the escalating amount of Net Crime surging throughout the net since the recent attacks.

At the same time in the cyberworld, Gyroman was trying to get SearchMan to stop shooting Primid-shaped cardboard cutouts and play a game of cards. To put it frankly, it wasn't going to well.

"Come on SearchMan. I'm bored out of my mind here," GyroMan said as he shuffled his cards for the _hundredth_ time that day. "Would you stop shooting stuff for five minutes and play a game of cards with me?"

SearchMan sighed as he disengaged his weapon and walked over to the table GyroMan was sitting at. "Ugh. Fine. I'll play _one _card game with you. But after that it's straight back to training."

"Yes! Take _that _boredom!" GyroMan cheered.

SearchMan sighed as GyroMan handed out the cards. "So what card game do you want to play?"

"Poker!" GyroMan blurted out.

"Fine," SearchMan said as he took his cards. "I guess I'll set down 800 Zenny."

"I'll set down 800 as well," GyroMan added.

"I'll get in on this action as well," Anonymous said as he rose over the other end of the table and took a seat.

"What the- When'd _you _get here?" SearchMan demanded as Anonymous set down 800 Zenny and drew seven cards. "This is a restricted area used by the Sharo military for personell _only_!"

"Tell you what, if you can beat me in this little game of poker, I'll tell you," Anonymous said as he shuffled his cards in his hand. "If you can't, not only will I take your money, but I'll also use my fart launcher on you."

"Don't you mean _dart _launcher?" GyroMan asked.

Anonymous didn't answer immediately. "No comment."

"Now hold on!" SearchMan said as he bolted up from his seat and aimed his ScopeGun at Anonymous. "Why shouldn't I just arrest you right now and _make _you tell me?"

"Because if you call for backup, I'll be outta here _faster _than a non-virgin Catholic in a Catholic church after a pregnancy test came back positive and was threatened with _excommunication_," Anonymous said as he cracked his knuckles.

"Well _that _was a very . . . uh . . . _specific _analogy," GyroMan said with a WTF look on his face.

"Hey. You want me to _play _or _run_?" Anonymous asked. "Cause I can run out of her _faster _then I did coming in here."

SearchMan sighed. _If Anonymous runs, then I won't be able to figure out how he got past the firewalls without setting off any alarms, so the only way I can get that information out of him is to beat him in a game of poker. _"Fine. Deal. Now let's play."

**Fourteen minutes later.**

"Ha! All aces!" Anonymous said as he slapped four aces, and a King, Queen, and Jack of diamonds down onto the table as he pulled the 2400 Zenny into his coat pockets.

SearchMan sighed as he banged his head onto the table. "Fine, I'm a man of my word. You're free to go."

"Ah ah _ah,_" Anonymous _ahed_ wagging his finger. "We agreed that if you lost not _only _would I be free to go and that I'd take your money, but that I'd also get to shoot you with my fart launcher."

"Don't you mean _dart _launcher?" GyroMan asked once again.

The next moment Anonymous pulled out a bazooka-like weapon with a perforated head. When he pulled the trigger, a brown cloud of gas was launched directly at SearchMan's head.

"Gaak! Ack! Daaah!" SearchMan cried as he fell to the floor holding his hands over his mouth and nose, cringing and retching every few seconds.

"O_hhhhhh_. You _did _mean fart launcher," GyroMan said dropping his left fist into his right hand.

"Will you let me make my escape or am I going to have to use this on you _too_?" Anonymous asked as he cocked his _fart _launcher and took direct aim at GyroMan, his finger twitching sligltly as it neared the trigger.

"No. I'm good," GyroMan said waving his hands in front of himself.

"Good choice," Anonymous said as he pulled out two semi-automatic hand-held machine guns and began shooting at the floor around him, carving a circle in the ground around himself until a perfect circle had been made around him. A second later the segment of the floor fell through, leaving a round hole through the floor.

A moment later the floor panel was lifted back up into place, and the sound of hammering nails could be heard as tiny silver spikes poked up out of the floor.

"I'm just going to keep my mouth shut," GyroMan said as he watched SearchMan continue to retch on the floor."Yeah that's a _definite_," he said as SearchMan's face turned an interesting shade of green before he finally passed out.

* * *

"I wonder what our navis are up to?" Charlie asked. "I haven't heard from them for a while."

"I'm sure if anything were to happen SearchMan would put a couple bullets in its head to be safe," Raika added.

"Hmm. I guess you're right," Charlie said as he set down his last card. "Hey bud, why don't you bring a chick in here or something. It's been a sausage-fest in here since the whole _alien invasion _thing."

"Bringing a non-military female into secure military bunkers is a federal offence in the Sharo military," Raika responded flatly. "Punishments can range from discharges to court marshals."

"_Wow_ you guys are stiffs," Charlie said to himself as he started yet _another _round of solitare. _No _wonder _this guy acts like he has a flagpole shoved up his ass all the time, _he thought to himself. _Guy probably hasn't had a date in forever._

As Raika looked through his binoculars, he caught sight of a human-shaped silhouette coming down the mountain. "Charlie! Heads up! We've got someone up on the mountain!"

"Seriously?" Charlie asked as he looked through a spare pair of binoculars. After hitting the zoom button, he caught sight of a human-shaped silhouette coming down the mountain. "The guy looks like he's shaking out there."

"He won't last much longer if he stays out there much longer," Raika said as he threw his coat over his shoulders. "C'mon. Let's get out there before he freezes to death."

"Finally I can get out of this bunker!" Charlie said happily as he threw his own coat over his shoulder.

A few minutes later, Raika and Charlie were riding off from the Sharo Military Base into the mountains on a snowmobile to rescue the mysterious person he spotted. Little did they know that a massive silhouette had already positioned itself over the base, and was releasing a payload of purple and black spores throughout the entire camp, the blizzard's visibility-reducing properties helping with the attack.

* * *

Raika and Charlie rode up the side of the mountain, cutting through the raging blizzard until they came to a semi-covered person working their way down the mountain.

"You there! Stay where you are!" Raika ordered as he jumped off his snowmobile. "What is your purpose for being on this government property?"

"How 'bout you ask him _after _you rescue him?" Charlie interrupted. "The guy's practically a popsicle," he said snatching an icicle off the individual's hat.

Raika sighed as he pulled out a tent from under the seat and set it up between some trees. "Charlie, grab the heater from the back and help me with this tent."

A few minutes later after setting up the tent, Raika, Charlie, and the half-frozen person all piled into the tent, the heater turned up to melt the ice and snow off the mysterious person.

After a few more minutes, the person was revealed to be a young teen in blue jeans, red and black sneakers, a red shirt with black sleeves and yellow trim and collar, a yellow backpack, black wristbands, and a red cap with a white brim and arch above it.

"A kid?" Raika asked as he warmed his hands by the heater. "What's a _kid _doing in the middle of Sharo in a snowstorm?"

"What's your name kid?" Charlie asked.

The kid shook himself free of some remaining snow. "The name's Red."

"Okay. And why are you here?" Raika asked.

"I'm here to warn you," Red replied.

"Warn us? About what?" Charlie asked.

"The Halberd is heading right for your base and is going to take over the mines to cripple your resistance against the Subspace Army," Red explained. "I was on my way down to warn you when this blizzard suddenly came out of nowhere."

"I don't know what you've heard, but Sharo is an advanced military base with the latest technology," Raika replied. "If anything as large as the Halberd were to come within a mile of our base, we'd immediately know about it and had already taken appropriate counter-measures."

Red stepped to the side of the tent and pulled down the zipper. "Oh yeah? Then what's _that_?"

Charlie and Raika poked their heads out of the tents, and their jaws dropped when they saw the Halberd dropping large numbers of purple spores directly into the base.

"What's going on?" Charlie asked as he ducked back into the tent.

"Just like I said. The Subspace Army is taking over your base," Red explained again. "Once that's done, they'll have a foothold before they storm your rare metal mines. Once the rare metal mines have been taken into subspace, not only will they have resources to enhance their own technology, but the human world will also be crippled as well."

"Well it's obvious we need to stop them," Raika said. "Normally I'd be a little narrow-minded about fighters from different worlds coming here from what I've heard, but after seeing something as big as the Halberd slipping past our defenses undetected, I may be a little bit inclined to believe you."

The next moment Red pulled out a black cell phone-like device and looked at the screen. "I've been tracking their movements with the help of a friend of mine," he said as a map of the area showed up, a blue circle with a side profile of a falcon showing up and moving towards a silhouette of the Halberd. "I was supposed to warn everyone _before _the Halberd arrived, but it seems I was too late."

"I can't believe I left the base so suddenly!" Raika cursed. "I'm going back there!" he said as he got ready to leave the tent, his loyalty to Sharo somewhat blinding his actions.

"Hold it!" Charlie said. "If you go in there without a plan, you'll just get yourself captured like all the others."

"What do you mean?" Raika demanded.

Charlie pulled out his binoculars and zoomed in on the base. On the other side of the binoculars, the military personnel was being guided into the underground bunkers by an army of green-clad purple figures.

"My friend is supposed to attack the Halberd to buy us some time," Red said as he monitored his cell phone-like device (AKA Poke'Gear). "He should begin his run any second."

The three of them looked into the sky above the Halberd and caught sight of a small white and blue arrow-shaped craft coming in and launching a volley of green lasers at the Halberd. The air quickly filled with golden streaks as the turrets began to fire back. The arrow-shaped craft continued to fly through the air around the Halberd until it suddenly launched a claw-shaped arm out at it and clipped the arrow-shaped craft's wing.

A moment later Raika, Charlie, and Red all cringed as the craft slammed head-first into the forests to the northeast of their position.

"Oh man, Falco's been shot down," Red cried as he quickly ran out of the tent and opened the back seat of the snow mobile. After throwing a coat over his shoulders, he ran off into the forest in the direction the craft fell.

"Hey hold up!" Charlie said as he ran off after him.

"Hold it! Who's going to set the tent back up!" Raika cried. After Red and Charlie faded into the distance, he knew he'd have to do it himself.

* * *

Red and Charlie arrived at the edge of the clearing where the arrow-shaped ship fell, but quickly hid back into the shrubbery when a buttload of Shadow Bugs got carried into the field by the blizzard.

"So _those _are the Shadow Bugs I've heard about," Charlie muttered to himself as the purple spores began to mix into the snow.

"They are, but I have no idea what they're doing _now_," Red said as the Shadow Bugs continued to roll through the snow like snowballs.

"Hey! You two left me to clean up camp!" Raika said from behind them, a bit peeved about the aforementioned.

"Shhhh!" Charlie said trying to hush Raika. "Something freaky is about to happen."

Right after he had said that, the Shadow Bugs began to rise up, dredging up the snow and ice with them until they transformed into ice-borne versions of the Primids. A moment later they held their hands out to the sides and summoned thick icicle-like lances. As around twenty Ice Primids were assembled, they raised their spears and began to slowly walk toward the crashed ship.

"Whoever is in that thing must've been knocked unconscious in the fall," Raika whispered.

"And how would _you _know?" Charlie asked. "You haven't even been on a _date_, let alone _flown _anything."

"Well at least I'm not an over-glorified fly-boy!" Raika spat back.

"Can it you two. I'm about to make my move," Red said as he pulled a red and white sphere from his belt.

"What's _that_?" Charlie asked.

The next moment Red pressed the button on the sphere, and it grew into an orange-sized version of itself in his hand.

"Interesting," Raika commented.

The next moment Red threw the metal sphere in an arc over the Ice Primids. When it suddenly stopped in mid-air, it opened up and shot a red laser out before returning to Red's hand. The red laser hit the snowy ground before transforming into a massive orange dragon-like creature with blue wings and a flaming tail.

"Charizard! Use Flamethrower!" Red cried as Raika and Charlie's jaws were dropped.

Red's Charizard roared before launching a massive gout of flame from its mouth directly at the Ice Primids, causing them to crack, then begin to melt as the heat rolled through them.

"Charizard! Over there!" Red cried, pointing behind Charizard.

Charizard turned around and saw one of the Ice Primids was rearing its arm back to throw its lance.

"Quick! Use Flamethrower again!" Red ordered.

Charizard launched a gout of flame at the Ice Primid, but not before the lance had already left its hand and had embedded itself through the cockpit windshield.

"Falco!" Red cried. However the next moment, a white tarp lifted itself up from the snow just _beside_ the craft, and a blue-feathered humanoid falcon with a white shirt, green pants, and black boots emerged, shaking like a leaf from the cold.

"T-t-t-take t-t-t-this!" Falco shuddered as he pulled back the trigger and fired a blue laser into the Ice Primid, shattering it like glass with the concussive force of the attack.

"Oh man! Thank goodness, for a moment there I thought you'd been skewered!" Red said relieved.

"J-j-j-j-just h-hurry up and h-help me get _rid _of these guys," Falco shivered as his teeth clattered together. "I'm freezing my _tail feathers _off out here!" he said pointing at his tail feathers, which had a fair amount of ice on them already and would fall off from the additional weight in a matter of minutes.

"Right!" Red said clenching his fist. "Charizard! Use Rock Smash!"

Charizard roared as it reached into the ground and pulled out a small boulder before it smashed it with its skull, sending shrapnel flying at a small group of Ice Primids.

"H-hey don't leave _me _out of the fun!" Falco said as he pulled out his Reflector and kicked it into one Ice Primid, activating it mid-flight before it bounced into several other Ice Primids before returning to his hand.

"This is all so weird," Raika commented as Red with his Charizard and Falco using his blasters continued to mow down the Ice Primids.

"Oh like _you're _one to talk," Charlie rebuttled.

"And what's _that _supposed to mean?" Raika demanded.

* * *

Several minutes later, Raika, Charlie, Red, and Falco had returned to the outskirts of the Sharo Military base. Just like earlier observations had indicated, the majority of the personnel had been captured, and the Subspace Army was preparing to mobilize to the rare metal mines.

"This is going to be a big problem," Raika whispered as he ducked back into the bushes. "The Subspace Army has completely occupied the base in the short time we've been out."

"I've checked the transmission on my PET," Charlie added. "I can't get any transmissious outside the area."

Raika looked up at the Halbered with a taste of disdain. "That thing must be interfering with all forms of communications."

"S-so how're we going to get the word out?" Falco asked, still shivering in his lent jacket.

"Is there an underground tunnel or something?" Red asked.

Raika pulled out his PET and pulled out a reference map. After looking it over for a few minutes, he had SearchMan pull out the holographic display. "There's an underground water pipe that leads directly into the base. Why?"

"O-okay th-en. We'll use that," Falco muttered.

"No go," Raika replied. "That pipe is only one and a half feet in diameter. Only something very _small _could squeeze through that."

Red smirked. "Just leave that to me. I've got something cooked up."

* * *

A couple miles away from the base, Raika, Charlie, Falco, and Red had all gathered around a thick mound of snow sticking up above the ground. Raika and Charlie had just finished moving away all the snow, revealing a maintenance hatch for the main water pipe for the base.

"Crap! This thing's covered in six inches of ice," Charlie muttered as the entire pipe was covered on the outside by a thick sheet of ice.

"Can't you just have that dragon thing melt it with its fire attacks?" Raika asked.

"Not yet," Red replied. "Charizard needs to take a break, and he won't be ready again for quite a while. I really pushed him back there and all."

"It'll take forever is we use the ice pick," Charlie added. "You said Falco was your name right? Mind if I borrow that shield thing of yours?"

"S-sure," Falco muttered as he pulled out his reflector and passed it to Charlie. "What do you i-intend to do?"

Charlie pulled out a small screwdriver and a portable soldering tool. "Leave that to me."

A few minutes later, Falco's reflector had been jammed into a crack made into the ice. The main face plate had been removed, and several wires had been moved to parallel circuits.

"What'd you do to my reflector?" Falco demanded.

"I saw how your device used vibrating energy to bounce off of objects," Charlie commented as he slowly reached his finger toward a button on the reflector. "I've recalibrated it to be able to cause enough of a vibrative force to shatter the ice without damaging the pipe." The next moment he pressed the button and ran for it. "Hit the deck!"

The air was filled with a low humming sound as the reflector vibrated inside the ice. The next moment there was an intense shockwave that shattered the ice around the pipe.

"I've got it!" Red called as he ran backwards and caught the reflector in his hand. "Yowch! Hot! Hot! Hot!"

"Just drop it in the snow. It'll cool down," Charlie ordered. Red instantly dropped it into the snow, the heated reflector carving a neat hexagonal hole into the snow.

"You better be able to fix that thing," Falco muttered.

"Don't worry. I will," Charlie added.

After Red pressed his steaming hands into the snow, he climbed up the railing to the top of the maintenance hatch. "Okay Squirtle, I choose you."

He pulled another metal ball from his belt and pressed the button. After it opened, a beam of light shot out into the water. The laser then transformed into a light blue turtle about a foot tall with a brown shell with a cream-colored belly and white trim.

"Squirtle. I need you to go to the end of this water pipe and come out on the other side," Red instructed down the pipe. "Once you get to the other end, cause a big enough disturbance so that we can sneak in."

"Squirtle squirtle!" Red's Squirtle saluted before jumping out of the water, and then back down into it.

"Come on guys. Let's get moving," Red said as he stepped down and headed for Raika's snowmobile.

"I'm going to have to replace all of the bearings on this thing if this keeps up," Raika muttered as the_ four _of them piled onto it again.

* * *

Back at the base, the four of them hid behind a large snow drift. It had been at least ten minutes since squirtle dove into the pipe, and he had yet to resurface.

"He's going downstream in a water pipe," Falco commented. "He couldn't get _lost, _so how long is it going to take for the guy to sneak into the base?"

"Just be patient," Raika muttered. "This is a delicate military operation. We need to do this right, or else the balance of this war could be in jeporady."

"That guy tends to embellish details doesn't he?" Falco asked.

"The guy hasn't even had a _date,_" Charlie added. "You think he's concerned about embellishing details?"

The next moment a column of water shot out above the camp from the top of one of the buildings. On the return trip, the spewed water had transform into pointed droplets of ice, skewering a few of the primids in a single shot and catching them off guard.

"Attack!" Falco cried as he ran in, his gun blazing as he shot at the primids like crazy.

Raika, Charlie, and Red charged straight through Falco's warpath and rammed the door on the emergency communications network building. After the door fell, Raika found that a dozen or so personell were tied to their seats, and that several scope primids had their guns trained on them.

"Go! Ivysaur!" Red ordered as he threw another metal sphere. It released a flash of light before it transformed into a green/blue quadripedial dinosaur with a massive plant on its back. "Use Vine Whip!"

Ivysaur immediately grabbed two of the scope primids with vines that grew out the plant on its bgack and threw them into the others. Raika leapt off a computer and kicked another one in the face. At the same time, Charlie worked to untie the personnel.

"What's going on?" one of the personnel asked.

"No time to explain!" Raika shouted as he pulled out his badge. "I need the call sent out for a Dimensional Area right now!"

"R-right!" the personnel said as the plant/dinosaur hybrid threw razor-sharp leaves at the primids, and then slammed into them with its head with loud thuds.

* * *

Falco continued to shoot at the primids, but slowly he was losing his ground and was being forced back into a corner.

"Hurry up you guys! I'm running out of time here!" Falco muttered as he continued to shoot wildly.

Just as the army of primids began to close in around him, a beam of light came in from the heavens before fanning out above him, coloring the entire area a rainbow-like hue.

"CrossFusion!" Raika and Charlie both intoned as they placed the CrossFusion chips in their PETs transforming in flashes of light.

"Scope Shot!" CF Raika shouted as he brought out his sniper gun and shot through several primids.

"Tornado Arm!" CF Charlie shouted as his arm transformed into a turbine and launched a whirlwind, throwing severl primids into the air.

The next moment a wave of primids in knight helmets carrying lances charged head-first at them.

"Knight Primids?" Red asked as he came out beside them. "Good grief, how many new varieties of primid are going to show up?"

CF Charlie immediately summoned a LongBlade and clashed weapons. "Red! Hurry up and summon something! We're getting overwhelmed here!"

"All right! Everybody out!" Red shouted as he threw his three poke'balls, sending Charizard, Ivusayr, and Squirtle out into the fray. "Squirtle, use Withdraw! Ivysaur, use Vine Whip! Charizard, use Slash!"

Red's Squirtle curled up into its shell and flew out at the primids like a hockey puck. Ivysaur quickly grew a pair of thick vines from the plant on its back and began to smack the primids in rapid succession. Charizard roared as it ran up to several primids and ripped them to pieces with its claws using powerful swings.

* * *

Through the frigid skies of Sharo, Meta Knight, the true owner of the Halberd, glided through the freezing cold skies in an attempt to get his ship back.

"D-d-d-d-d-damn! I th-th-think my mask is f-fr-frozen to my fa-f-face!" Meta Knight cursed as he continue to fly though the frigid skies.

Visibility was down to nothing, and the only way he could tell which way was up was by the snow falling in front of him.

After what felt like forever, he finally caught sight of his ship's silhouette in the distance. As he neared it, the silhouette became more definite, but he couldn't get a clear read of it. Just as he was about to near it, a massive tailwind suddenly caught him in the wings and steered him underneath the Halberd out of reach of the deck.

"Crap! Crap! Crap!" Meta Knight cursed before a chunk of ice unexpectedly fell off the side of the Halberd and struck his wing with a loud thwap, sending him falling into a tailspin. "Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!"

* * *

"Phew. I think that's the last of them," Red commented as his poke'mon fell on their faces from exhaustion.

"Thank goodness too," Falco muttered. "I'm running out of gas here."

The next moment a black blur slammed head-first into a snow drift on the top of one of the bunkers.

"What was that?" CF Charlie asked.

The next moment a round figure in a silver mask worked his way out of the snow drift and fell on the ground in a heap. After he got up, he drew his sword and began to use it as a crutch. "Man. This is getting _so _old."

"Who's he?" CF Charlie asked as the round figure walked towards the hangar.

"Hey you! Hold it!" CF Raika ordered. "Where are you headed?"

"I'm borrowing a plane so I can get my _ship _back," Meta Knight said, pointing to the Halberd.

"That monstrosity is _your _ship?" CF Raika asked.

"Yeah. It is. Now leave me to my work," Meta Knight said as he carved a hole through the door with a quick series of sword swings. "Dammit! Just a helicopter!" Meta Knight cursed as he looked into the hangar. "I'm going for the next hangar. Need something faster."

"No you're not!" CF Raika cried as he put a hand on Meta Knight's shoulder in an attempt to stop him, only to be thrown into a snow drift.

"You there," Meta Knight said pointing to CF Charlie. "You can fly a plane right?"

"Well, my specialty is helicopters, but I _can _fly planes," CF Charlie commented.

"Good. Once that force field thing is gone, I'm going to need you to fly me up there," Meta Knight commented as he carved a hole in another hangar door. "Finally, something we can use," he said satisfied as he saw a sleek jet they could use later.

"Hold it! These vehicles are Sharo property! Why should I let you take one of our very expensive planes?" CF Raika demanded as he pulled his head from the snow.

"Because if I can get back to my ship, then that's one less problem _you _have to deal with," Meta Knight rebuttled.

"Fine you can borrow the plane," CF Raika muttered after Meta Knight's convincing argument.

"Uh, guys. I think that'll have to wait," Red commented. "We've got another problem on the wings here."

Everyone looked up to see another wave of Shadow Bugs coming down into a massive pile that slowly rose above ten feet in height, and fifty in width.

"Guys! My poke'mon are getting too exhausted to continue fighting!" Red shouted. "I'm going to see if I can get some reinforcements," he said as he ran for the bunkers.

Slowly, the Shadow Bugs began to collect snow as they slowly rose into the air. They began to get absorbed into the snow as the figure towered in height. A moment later it had transformed into a fifty foot tall three-sectioned snowman with tree trunk arms, thick coal eyes and icicle teeth, a humongous green and purple scarf, and a massive blue bucket hat with the symbol for the SubSpace army on it with a feather sticking out the top.

"A giant snowman? Seriously?" CF Charlie asked.

"Incoming!" CF Raika cried as the giant snowman raised its wooden fist and slammed down at them.

"Tornado Arm!" CF Charlie shouted, launching another whirlwind at the giant snowman, only for him to shake it off.

"Locked on target," CF Raika called as a series of crosshairs appeared on the snowman, slowly aligning into place. "Lock-On Shot!" he shouted as he launched an energy beam right between its eyes, only for the snow to move back into place a moment later.

"Oh man. Not good," CF Charlie muttered.

The giant evil snowman opened its mouth and launched a volley of icicles at them. They quickly dodged most of them, but both of them were then hit by one and instantly frozen in giant blocks of ice.

"S-s-so c-c-cold…" CF Charlie shuddered from inside the ice.

"I can't activate any battle chips," CF Raika cursed. "We're next to done for."

The next moment as the giant evil snowman loomed over them and was about to step on them, the personnel from the base began to pour out of the bunkers they were imprisoned in and raised metallic white rifles with blue trim.

"All troops! Open fire!" the commander ordered as he brought his arm down in the giant evil snowman's direction.

The next moment the fifty gathered troops deactivated the safety on their guns and opened fire on the monster, sending phosphorescent blue rounds out in a flurry that cut through it like a hot knife through butter. At the same time, several personnel began to pick away at the ice in order to get the both of them free.

Meanwhile up above them, the Halberd's engines began to flare back to life, lurching forward at first by inches, but would soon be cutting through whole feet and yards, and at some point meters.

"Sorry I can't stay longer, but I _really _need to get going," Meta Knight said as he walked over to the block of ice CF Charlie was frozen into and sliced the ice away around him.

"Yaaah!" CF Charlie roared as he shattered the ice around him.

"Come on fly-boy!" Meta Knight said dragging CF Charlie into the hangar. "We've got an airship to catch."

"Got it!" CF Charlie said as he followed Meta Knight into the hangar. He and Meta Knight quickly ran up to the sleek jet with swept-back wings, side-mounted engines, and a two seated cockpit with Sharo's symbol on the side.

Back outside, just as CF Raika had gotten out of the last bit of ice, the Dimensional Area began to groan under the strain as the prow of the Halberd slammed into the raibow-colored wall. A minute later the wall groaned one last time until under the strain its hattered like glass, letting the outside blizzard back into the base, catching nearly everyone by surprise.

As the Halberd began to move off into the distance, the flames coming out the afterburners being the only visible aspect of it besides its massive silhouette, the lights lining the runway flared to life, and the hangar doors began to open.

"Clear the runway!" Charlie shouted through the intercom. Immediately everyone cleared out of the runway, and the jet engines flared to life.

The motorized wheels slowly lurched forward and the propellers in the engine chambers began to spin. As the surrounding air was sucked into the engine chambers, the fuel was injected into it in the form of a fine mist, spark plugs immediately ignited the fuel, and concentrating vents at the rear focused the superheated air out the back, launching the whole craft forward.

As the jet flew down the runway, the spoilers raised, and the wind curled over the airfoils. As the craft began to slowly rise into the air, the landing gear folded into the chassis, and it took off high into the sky, the Halberd at least fifty miles away by now and increasing its speed exponentially every second.

**Author's Note:  
****This is really how a jet engine works. I'm not just making this stuff up.**

**No seriously. This is the field I'm going to major in, so I've been reading up on this stuff.**

"Can't this thing go any faster!" Meta Knight demanded from the back seat. "I already flew from Creamland all the way here. I _don't _want to have to make another transcontinental flight."

"Hold on to your mask then!" Charlie said as he pushed the throttle all the way forward. "I am _flooring _this puppy."

The next moment the fuel gauge suddenly dropped to half as the jet shot past the Halberd as the both of them were pressed into their seats in a massive burst of speed.

"Woohoo! We passed it!" Charlie cheered.

"You're not supposed to _pass _it!" Meta Knight shouted pounding into the back of Charlie's headrest. "We were _supposed _to catch _up_ to it!"

"Okay! Okay!" Charlie muttered as he pulled back on the control column and did a quick 180, heading straight back for the Halberd.

Just as the jet neared the prow, the turrets on the Halberd flared to life before taking aim and launching a storm of bullets at them.

"Hold onto your lunch!" Charlie cried as he pulled back, sending the jet skyward through the blizzard and hail of bullets.

The next moment as the plane began to tip backwards before heading back down, a bullet pierced the spoilers on the left wing and took out a large chunk of the wing before several more bullet holes riddled the entire craft, sending it into an out-of-control tailspin.

"Ahhhh! I'm spinning out of control!" Charlie cried as the plane continued to fishtail in midair as it plummeted toward the earth, a trail of smoke running behind it.

"Not again!" Metabee cursed as he kept getting thrown around the cockpit.

"Masked dude! I'm going to eject the screen!" Charlie shouted as he tried desperately to regain control of his vehicle. "You get back to your ship! I'll get this thing landed!"

Meta Knight nodded as he covered his eyes with his cape.

"Go for it!" Charlie cried as he grabbed the oxygen mask mounted and helmet mounted in the cockpit before pressing a red button, causing the screen to fly off into the distance in a quick series of controlled mini-explosions.

"Don't die on me fly-boy!" Meta Knight shouted before he jumped out of the tail-spinning craft and headed back to his craft through the freezing blizzard.

"You got it!" Chalie shouted before he guided his bullet-ridden craft through the distance back to the Sharo base.

* * *

Back at the Sharo base, everyone was steadily helping each other over the shock of the sudden invasion they had just faced. Falco had snuck back into Raika's bunker, since his appearance might drive people into a panic, while Red played the role of the innocent bystander after hiding his poke'balls on his person.

"What's taking Charlie so long?" Raika asked himself as he looked off into the distance. _I know those were gunshots I heard a while ago. Just what on Earth could be going on out there? _he asked himself, remembering how he caught sight of burst of yellow light in the distance.

The next moment his question was answered as the green form of the borrowed jet careened over the walls of the base and headed right for the runway. As the landing gear touched down, the rear-mounted parachutes were deployed, slowing it down just enough before it slammed into the end wall of the hangar.

Raika ran up to the jet and found out immediately that it had been riddled with foot-thick bullet holes and that the windshield was missing. "What happened!"

A few personnel ran up to the jet to size up the damage. At the same time several more ran up to the jet and caught Charlie just as he tumbled out of the cockpit.

"That… was… AWESOME!" Charlie cheered, but quickly grabbed his ribs. "Man. Think I slammed into the control panel."

Raika sighed. "Great, Charlie's injured, leaving the lengthy report to _me_." He looked around the base and saw that relatively no damage had been done to the base before the Subspace army had begun its march to the rare metal mines. "Well at least _this _much is over."

"Commander! Commander!" one of the men cried as he ran in a panic. "There's a huge black bomb in one of the hangars! It's due to go off in _ten _minutes!"

"What?" everyone cried.

Raika quickly ran over to where the soldier was pointing to. When he entered the hangar, he saw a massive pill-shaped device positioned in the center of the room. Two red sideways Vs were mounted on the black hemisphere on the sides, and a black ball of energy was held in place by four electrical currents in the glass cylinder right above the timer. It seemed as though the ball was completely automatic.

**9:20**

**9:19**

**9:18**

"Someone get this thing mounted on a vehicle ASAP!" the base's commander said, barking out orders to his troops. "We have _no _idea how large the blast radius is going to be!"

"Oh man. Why now?" Raika muttered to himself as the personnel quickly brought a jeep into the hangar, several dozen men working desperately to load the ominous device onto the back before the timer went off.

**8:45**

**8:44**

**8:43****

* * *

**

**Sorry if this chapter was a little "bland", but there wasn't really that much of a setting to work with. But c'mon, Sharo is the equivalent to Greenland. Of COURSE I'm not going to be able to get much out of it.**

**Also, sorry about the cliffhanger. Oh, and if I insulted anyone who lives in Greenland with that previous statement regarding Greenland.**

**Disclaimers:  
****Just to say, the Ice Primids are ideas owned by me, as are the Knight Primids.**

**The word "buttload" is a real word. Not a made up one.**

**The "control column" is the lever you use to control a plane's movement, and the "spoilers" and "rudder" are the moving parts on the wings/tail fin that help steer it through the air.****

* * *

**

**Omake  
****Setting: UnderNet (the past)**

**In the depths of the UnderNet, a slightly younger Anonymous was sitting at the edge of the UnderGorge of Infinite Depth (before Naruto closed it with his bare hands). He looked out into the sky, not doing much but swinging his feet as he did pretty much nothing. **

**A few minutes later, a lone HeelNavi walked up behind Anonymous, then sat down next to him.**

"**What is self? What is the word? What is the meaning of life?" Anonymous said aloud as he continued to stare into the sky. "Most people live their entire lives and die before finding the answers to **_**any **_**of these grand questions****."**

"**Um. Who are you talking to?" the HeelNavi asked, finding Anonymous' somewhat-philisophical statement a little out of place in the dark world of the UnderNet.**

"**I am talking****to the **_**devil**_** himself," Anonymous replied cooly as he looked off into the distance dramatically.**

"**Wow. Seriously?" the HeelNavi asked, a little taken aback by wht Anonymous had said.**

"**No-" Anonymous said as he got up from his seat. "-butthat'llbewhoyou'retalkingtoina**_**second**_**!" he blurted out suddenly, letting his words jumble together as he stepped behind the HeelNAvi and kicked him over the edge of the cliff.**

**A moment before the HeelNavi left sight, Anonymous pulled out a single-use rocket launcher out of nowhere. He quickly removed the back plate, extended the barrel, and raised the crosshair before pressing the black button and launched a rocket right into the HeelNavi.**

**The next moment the unsuspecting fool was blown out of existence in the form of a fiery explosion.**

"**Hmmm," Anonymous said to himself as he walked off. "My weapon-assembly time is still 1.5 seconds. I need to be able to cut it down to **_**one**_** if I want to do anything productive."**

**The next moment he walked off after tossing his single-use rocket launcher into the mouth of the gorge. The sound of it hitting the bottom of the gorge never _did_ come after that.**


	4. Netfrika: Savage Stampede

Netfrika is a vast, open continent inhabited by a wide array of animals and plant life. From the rain forests to the south, to the deserts of the north, to the grassy plains inbetween. Despite what was happening in the world, with the massive air-battleship Halberd cruising through the wild blue yonder, spreading the odd creatures known as Shadow Bugs, capable of assuming any shape or form, it remained a sanctuary for a wide form of animal life.

**Author's Note:  
****Netfrika = Africa**

At the moment, the world's troubles haven't reached this sanctuary. Currently Dingo, the NetOp of TomahawkMan, and Fyrefox, the NetOp of NapalmMan, were stationed there, should the Subspace Army attack that corner of the world.

Miyabi, the NetOp of ShadowMan, was called away on a "work-related" thing. Who knows what he was doing? Still, it was better that he not be there at all, then to know he's in the shadows right beside you when you couldn't _see_ him.

* * *

At the moment it was another uneventful day for the two Net Saviors. Dingo was watching the antelope bound over the grassy plains, while FyreFox thought of a way to convert bottle rockets into Shadow Bug-seeking weaponry. They were currently using Dingo's electric jeep, since it was more practical for the environment, seeing as that was the majority of what there was in all directions.

"Ahhh. Just look at those things go," Dingo said as he watched the antelope eat their share of grass. "Kinda brings things into perspective doesn't it?"

"Huh? You say something?" FyreFox asked. At the moment he was hunched over a set of papers with a reference to the periodic table beside him, the elements commonly used in fireworks highlighted with red circles as his thoughts simulated any possible combinations of the aforementioned elements.

"You _still _working on that thing?" Dingo asked. "C'mon man, you're in one of the most pristine animal sanctuaries on Earth. How can you be so preoccupied with work?"

"It isn't just work," FyreFox shouted, scaring the birds within a mile radius. "Making stuff that blows up is my _passion!_"

"Did you forget that your _passion _nearly hit an elephant the other day?" Dingo rebuttled, remembering how one of FyreFox's fireworks had done just _that_.

"Hey, it _nearly _hit that elephant," FyreFox said in defense. "Doesn't mean it actually _hit _him."

"Yeah, but it hit a _tourist_ in the back of the head!" Dingo argued back.

"So he's got a bald spot now. What's the big deal?" FyreFox asked back.

"It could've _killed _him is the big deal!" Dingo fired back.

* * *

At the same time in the jeep's cyber world. Dingo and FyreFox's conversation could be heard even there.

"Ugh. Are those two going at it _again_?" TomahawkMan asked. "This is like what, the tenth time they've broken out into an argument this week?"

"Don't know," NapalmMan said as he practiced shooting at some targets. "I haven't really been paying attention. Been working on my aim."

As NapalmMan continued to shoot at the targets, TomahawkMan was bored out of his skull. "Man, I wish there were something more productive to do then just waiting around. I haven't had a good Net Battle in who _knows _how long."

"You know maybe you should follow your NetOps example and just take things into perspective," a voice said from behind him.

TomahawkMan turned around and saw who else but Anonymous, the enigmatic rogue sitting on a "stump" next to him with a set of binoculars in his hands peering out into the Real World.

"Wait a minute…" TomahawkMan said taking a good look at him. "The sadistic eyes, the black jacket, the red cargo pants and checker pattern shoes. You're that Anonymous guy I've heard about."

"What gave it away?" he said sarcastically. "The fact that I'm not wearing _spandex_?"

"I'll have you know spandex is very slimming," TomahawkMan said. "Uh, not that _I'd _know anything about that I mean," he corrected himself.

"Of course you wouldn't," Anonymous replied flatly. "So how's watching the animals and such going?"

"It's a little boring, to tell the truth," TomahawkMan replied. "It tends to get a little boring after a while."

"You just said the same thing _twice_," Anonymous replied.

"You see?" TomahawkMan replied. "It's so boring, my IQ is dropping by the minute."

"It's not the _boredom_ that's making your IQ drop," Anonymous said bluntly. "It's because you never _think_. It is because of that on its own that your intelligence quotient is gradually declining at an unhealthy rate."

"Uhhhh. Was that in insult?" TomahawkMan asked, tilting his head to the side. _I think this guy uses too many big words._

"I rest my case," Anonymous said back. "Well, normally I'd just fritter the day away, but I've got things to do, so I'll leave you to watching the animals."

"Phft. Who says _fritter_ anymore?" TomahawkMan asked laughingly as Anonymous' use of the word _fritter_.

"The guy with Roy Mustang's _glove _that's who!" he said as he pulled out the white glove with the intricately-drawn red circle on it before snapping his fingers. The next moment there was a massive cloud of smoke and a toned-down explosion. When the smoke cleared, TomahawkMan's headdress was backwards on his head, and his face and upper body were covered in soot.

"Of course you know, that _this _means war," TomahawkMan grumbled to himself as he righted his headdress before stomping off as he wiped the soot from himself.

"What's with _him_?" NapalmMan asked as he turned away from his target shooting. "Oh well. Back to target practice."

"Hey could you hold this?" Anonymous asked NapalmMan when he turned around, holding out a large watermelon.

"Um. Sure," he said taking it. After Anonymous jacked out, he asked himself, "What? Am I just supposed to _eat _this?"

The next moment the watermelon blew up in his face, covering him with watermelon bits and chocolate syrup.

"Dammit what the hell!" NapalmMan demanded as he shook the watermelon and chocolate syrup off his face. However, Anonymous had already disappeared into the depths of the Cyber World.

To where, only god (or the writer of this FanFiction) would know.

* * *

Back in the real world, Dingo continued to watch the antelope when he caught sight of something green in the corner of his eye. He turned his gaze to the left and saw a jeep with four men in desert camouflage and hunting gear chasing after what appeared to be a green and white-bellied dinosaur with orange spikes, brown boots, and a red saddle with white trim on its back.

"Dingo to the reserve. We've got a set of poachers chasing some kind of giant reptile," Dingo said into his on-board radio as he jumped into the driver's seat. "Bring the authorities to my location. I'll keep a lock on them until you arrive. Over."

"What's going on?" FyreFox asked.

"We've got some poachers out there," Dingo replied as he started up the jeep and got ready to remove the parking break. "Not pack your stuff and let's get moving."

"Right!" FyreFox said as he pulled out a portable RPG (rocket launcher) and slung it over his shoulder. "I've got the rocket-launcher!"

Dingo sighed as he smacked his forehead. _Once all this is over __I _really _need to get me some quiet time._

* * *

A few minute's chase later, Dingo finally caught up with the poachers, three backup vehicles on their tail as they closed in on them.

"You there! You are ordered to shut down your vehicle and surrender yourselves!" Dingo shouted over the intercom. "Any resistance can and will be used against you in the court of law."

The three poachers seemed to ignore Dingo's demands, and instead sped up in their attempt to catch the odd green dinosaur-like creature.

"Man. I hate when they don't listen," Dingo cursed as he hit his head on the rim of the steering wheel.

"FOR THE MOTHERLAND!" FyreFox roared as he stood on the jeep's rollbars with the RPG armed. The next moment he quickly removed the back plate, extended the barrel, and raised the crosshair before pressing the black button and launching a rocket right into the poacher's jeep.

The jeep itself was blown out, and the poachers were thrown away from the torn vehicle, slightly burned and their clothing singed.

"What the hell was _that_?" Dingo demanded as he and the other vehicles pulled up to the poachers.

"What? I stopped them didn't I?" FyreFox asked as he shouldered his empty weapon.

Dingo sighed as the three poachers were tied up. As he looked over his shoulder, he saw a little spot of green disappearing into the distance. "Well _whatever _that thing was they were chasing, it's gone now."

* * *

At Dingo's home by the savannah, he and TomahawkMan practiced fighting against false opponents. At the same time, FyreFox was sitting by the window polishing his rocket launcher.

Dingo sighed as TomahawkMan mowed through yet _another _batch of opponents. "Not that I don't like the peace and quiet and all, but I just wish _something _would happen."

FyreFox looked out the window and saw a line of red clouds rolling through the sky. At its head was the metal prow of the airship, the Halberd. "I think you just got your wish."

Dingo looked out his window and saw the Halberd approaching as well. "Grab your PET. We're stepping outside."

* * *

A few minutes later, Dingo and FyreFox stood in the open savannah, their PETs in their hands as the massive battleship bore over them.

"I've called ahead," FyreFox said as he cracked his knuckles. "The Dimensional Area should be here in a minute."

Dingo tightened his grip on his PET as he pulled out his CrossFusion chip from his pocket. "I'm not completely sure what's going on here, but I know that I'll fight to my last breath for my homeland."

"Heh. That sounded very clichéd," FyreFox said half-jokingly. "Like something out of an old war-time movie or something."

"Just get ready," Dingo said firmly.

As the Halberd flew into the air above them, its massive shadow completely covered them as it blocked the sun from view. As its bomb-bay doors opened with a grinding moan, the thousands of Shadow Bugs began to pour out into the air.

"Hurry up Dimensional Area Generators," Dingo said nervously as the thousands of Shadow Bugs got closer to the ground with every passing second.

The next moment the bright beam of light shot through the clouds and dissipated over the Halberd, stretching as far as the eye could see as it rose into the sky. However, just as it was about to close at its peak, a blue and white arrow-shaped ship shot through, the tips of its folded wings barely getting grazed as the Dimensional Area closed on top of it.

"What on earth was _that_?" Dingo asked as the arrow-shaped ship's wings folded out, and it took a quick U-turn as it headed for the Halberd.

"Don't know, but we've got our _own _problems," FyreFox said pointing to the puddles of Shadow Bugs collecting across the savannah. As the puddles began to rise up and take the form of primids with red and white war paint armed with bows and arrows, Dingo and FyreFox placed their CrossFusion chips in their PETs.

"Cross Fusion battle chip in! Download!" the two of them shouted before their bodies were immersed in the bright white light. When the light cleared, CF Dingo brought out his tomahawk, and CF FyreFox charged his napalm cannons.

As the Arrow Primids took aim with their bows, the arrow-shaped craft above continued to dodge out of the line of fire coming from the massive battleship.

**Author Note:  
Arrow Primids are a sub-species of primid thought of by me.**

* * *

In the skies above CF Dingo and CF FyreFox's conflict, the white and blue Arwing continued to sweep in and out of the Halberd's fire. Inside was a humanoid fox with brown and white fur wearing a white jacket, green pants, and black boots.

"I'm not going to crap out like I did _last_ time," Fox said to himself as he continued to dodge the enemy fire, remembering the _last _time he assaulted the Halberd. The only thing keeping him from being thrown all about the cockpit was the fact that his full-body seatbelt was as snug as it could get.

As the Arwing swooped out from underneath and flew over the deck in a massive somersault, the Halberd's Combo Cannon had prepped up and launched its claw straight for Fox's Arwing, like it had done before.

At the same time in the cockpit, Fox saw what was coming with his ship's early-warning system and responded in kind by throwing the control column forward and to the left. Just as the Combo Cannon's claw was about to hit the Arwing, it suddenly did a barrel roll to the left, rolling out of the way by mere inches as the Combo Cannon's claw shot past it.

"Yeah! Take _that _Combo Cannon!" Fox cheered as the claw slowly retracted back to the Combo Cannon. However, his celebration was short lived as the Combo Cannon's middle chassis opened, and a massive white and blue energy beam was launched straight at it.

"Woah!" Fox cried as he quickly drove the control column forward, nearly breaking it from its mounting as the Arwing took a sudden dive straight down, its tailfin being grazed by a half inch by the powerful energy blast.

As the Arwing swung under the Halberd before risking another run, Fox was suddenly caught by surprise as a sudden cascade of Shadow Bugs poured over his ship, covering it in a thick layer of purple and black. A moment later, the Shadow Bugs began to pool together before transforming into a squadron of green-dressed primids with lizard tails, suction cup gloves, and narrow eyes.

Fox quickly did a barrel roll in an attempt to shake them off, but the Gecko Primids held firm and wouldn't budge, no matter how much the craft swerved in and out of its original flight path..

**Author Note:  
Gecko Primids are a sub-species of primid thought of by me as well.**

"Oh man! Not good!" Fox muttered as the gecko primids began to pound on his ship, the structural integrity gauge dropping by the minute.

* * *

Back on the ground, CF Dingo and CF FyreFox were looking at about a hundred arrow heads as the arrow primids continued to fire arrows at them.

"AreaSteal!" both of them shouted, disappearing in a blue and red stretched blur as the arrows lodged themselves in the ground.

"Tomahawk Swing!" CF Dingo cried as he swung his tomahawk in a wide arc, cutting through several arrow primids in a single swing.

"Fire Cannon!" CF FyerFox shouted as he launched jets of flame out of his cannons and into another squad of arrow primids, accidentally setting fire to a part of the savannah also.

"Hey! Don't set the savannah on fire!" CF Dingo shrieked as he searched his pockets for a water-type battle chip. "Oh man! I don't have any water-type battle chips!"

The next moment a silver fish skeleton-shaped throwing knife lodged itself in the tree tip-first. On the end of the tail was an AquaTower battle chip tied on the end of a string.

"Okay… That was convenient," CF Dingo said as he plucked the chip from the string. "Aqua Tower!" he shouted as he placed his left palm on the ground, releasing a wave of water before it transformed into a moving pillar that extinguished the flames.

Just as soon as CF Dingo and CF FyreFox knocked the arrow primids down, more seemed to take their place.

"Oh man, no matter how many of these guys we knock down, more just seem to take their place," CF Dingo cried as he lopped another arrow primid before having to dodge out of the way of fifteen arrows.

"Yeah thanks for letting me know Mr. state-the-obvious," CF FyreFox muttered as he changed from his fire cannons to fire bullets in order to fight without starting another wilderness fire.

"Well unless some kind of cavalry or something comes to our aid in the next few minutes, I'm not sure how long it will be until we're overwhelmed by sheer number," CF Dingo cried as he swung his tomahawk in an attempt to stop a barrage of arrows from hitting him.

* * *

Up in the skies above as Fox continued to struggle against both the Halberd and the gecko primids, a weary Meta Knight continued to glide through the skies on the updrafts.

"This time I am _not _going to back off just because a couple kids can't fight," Meta Knight mumbled to himself. "I'm going after the Halberd and that's that."

As he broke through the cloud line, he was greeted by the sight of the dome-shaped Dimensional Area hanging over a wide area. He quickly grabbed his cape and twisted it in on itself, teleporting him inside before he slammed face-first into the rainbow-colored wall, but narrowly dodged out of the way of a line of stray bullets from the Halberd itself.

"What the!" Meta Knight cried as he looked around. He suddenly caught sight of the damaged Arwing flying through the skies, the distressed Fox struggling against a large number of gecko-like primids.

He quickly flapped his wings and zipped over to the Arwing before slicing at the gecko primids attacking the cockpit. As the others were about to attack him from the other sides, he quickly spun around in a cyclone, slicing at the primids before they could even touch him.

As Fox finally regained control of his ship, he looked up to see that Meta Knight had just dispatched the gecko primids attacking him. "Meta Knight? What're _you _doing here?"

Meta Knight pointed to the ship, and then to himself irritably.

"Right. Stupid question," Fox admitted. A moment later more gecko primids suddenly dropped down onto the Arwing and began to pound on it again.

"Man! There's just no end to these guys!" Fox cried as he did another barrel roll in an attempt to shake off the gecko primids.

"You idiot! That _won't _work!" Meta Knight screamed as he barely got thrown from the craft. "What part of that do you _not_ seem to be getting?"

"Sorry. Old habit," Fox muttered. "Just try and slice those things off while I try to find an opening."

Meta Knight cursed to himself as he continued to slice at the gecko primids. _When will this guy ever learn? If the _Great Fox_ couldn't stop the Halberd, what hope does this tiny ship have on its _own_?_

* * *

Back on the ground as CF Dingo and CF FyreFox were about to be completely overwhelmed, Dingo caught the sight of something green in the corner of his eye. He turned around and saw the same dinosaur-like creature from before.

"Hey FyreFox!" CF Dingo shouted. "It's that weird lizard-thing from before."

At that comment the green dinosaur-like creature seemed to be insulted.

"I think you just insulted him," CF FyreFox said flatly.

The next moment the green dinosaur-like creature brought his hands up to his mouth and put two fingers in before letting out an ear-piercing whistle that seemed to echo through the entire area.

After CF Dingo, CF FyreFox, and the arrow primids moved their hands from their ears, they all looked around but didn't see anything. A second later, they all looked down to see the tiny pebbles and rocks bouncing up and down on the ground. The next moment the sound of several animal's cries echoed through the air.

CF Dingo and CF Fyrefox looked to their left and saw a large number of elephants, zebra, rhinoceros, antelope, mere cats, and other animals native to the Netfrikan (African) savannah stampeding toward the arrow primids.

As the animals attacked the surprised primids, the green-colored dinosaur rushed up to CF Dingo and motioned for him to get on its back.

"Do you want me to get on?" CF Dingo asked.

"No he wants you to scratch him behind the ears," CF FyreFox said sarcastically before launching a series of shots into the fray, thankfully avoiding the animals. "Of _course _he wants you to ride him."

CF Dingo nodded as he hopped onto the green-colored dinosaur's back and raised his tomahawk to the heavens before it reared back as he shouted, "FOR THE MOTHERLAND!" as he charged into the fray, his tomahawk swinging like wild and hopefully missing the animals.

* * *

Up in the skies above, Fox and Meta Knight continued to swerve around the Halberd in an attempt for the prior to get a potentially crippling shot in, while the latter simply wanted to get his ship back.

As Meta Knight slashed at another wave of gecko primids, the Combo Cannon's top barrel suddenly launched a massive bomb in an arc over the deck and down to the ground, currently being occupied by a large number of primids, some animals, two guys in weird outfits, one of them riding a green-colored dinosaur.

"The combo cannon just launched an explosive and its heading for everything down below!" Fox said as he fired a volley of lasers across the deck before moving out of the way of the retaliating fire.

Meta Knight looked over the side of the Arwing. "Is that Yoshi down there?"

Fox tilted the ship sideways and nodded. "Yeah! That is Yoshi! He's right in the line of fire!"

Just as the black explosive was about to impact the ground, Yoshi threw the Native American-dressed figure off his back and swallowed the bomb whole. His body swelled to bulbous proportions just before dropping a massive white and green egg behind him. The next moment Yoshi hefted it onto his shoulders and took aim at the Halbderd's underbelly. After the throw was executed, it only arced a few yards into the air before going towards the gun-dressed individual.

Before the massive egg crushed him, he raised the turrets on his back straight up and blasted the egg point-blank range. The egg suddenly shot into the air before breaking, exposing the bomb tucked inside before it flew into the Halberd's open bomb bay doors.

"Oh _man_!" Meta Knight moaned before the explosive detonated inside the ship.

The next moment a loud boom was heard, echoing through the air in the Dimensional Area as smoke poured out of the seams in the Halberd. At the same time numerous fires broke out as the craft began to lurch forward.

"Dammit!" Meta Knight cursed as he saw how much the Halberd's hull bulged outward from the blast. "It'll take me _forever _to set that back in."

The next moment a stray piece of the hull suddenly flew through the air from the resultant explosion and sliced Fox's arwing's left wing clean off, sending it into an uncontrollable tail spin.

"Fox! I'm sorry, but you're on your own this time!" Meta Knight shouted as he sliced off a piece of the cockpit's armoring and yanked a few wires out of the side. "Good luck to ya!"

Just as Fox's ejector seat activated upon the cockpit screen's deployment, Meta Knight flew off into the air after the lurching Halberd. As the Halberd suddenly came to a stop when it hit the Dimensional Area wall, Meta Knight was able to catch up to the Halberd and squeezed in through a crack in the hull before the Dimensional Area broke.

* * *

Back down on the ground, the last of the attacking Subspace Army had been vanquished, and the animals had begun to go their separate ways.

As Dingo rode on Yoshi's back, his transformation dissipated as the Dimensional Area collapsed. "Oh well. At least all the animals are safe."

"Shame about the fight being cut short though," FyreFox sighed as his CF form dissipated. "I was hoping I could fight a bit more."

"Is that all you think about?" Dingo asked as he hopped of Yoshi's back. The next moment he heard a startled cry from behind him. He turned around and saw a humanoid fox wearing a white jacket and green pants with black boots hanging from one of the trees by his parachute-mounted chair.

"What on Earth?" FyreFox asked as the humanoid fox continued to struggle against his full-body seatbelt. The next moment a near-decimated white and blue arrow-shaped craft dropped down behind them, nearly scaring the shit out of him as its crash echoed across the savannah.

"When I said things were boring and that I wanted them to be more exciting, I didn't want them to get _this _exciting," TomahawkMan said from inside his PET.

* * *

**Omake  
****Setting: Airspace over the Hikari residence (Inside the NME SDJ Stealth Deployment Jet)**

**Naruto sat against the right wall of the jet as Serenity piloted the jet over ACDC Town. All the while, Naruto kept pressing his ears to the walls, trying to figure out how the engines weren't making any kind of sound, but were still just as strong as any other engine that _roared _when they ran.**

"**Keep your ears off the walls," Serenity scolded, all the while not taking her eyes off the guidance system. "It'll rattle the bones in your inner ear."**

**Naruto huffed as he sat back in his chair. "Well I'm just curious is all. How did Onii-San even **_**get **_**this thing? I've been in this world for a _while_, and I haven't seen **_**anything **_**like this."**

"**That isn't really important," Serenity said as she pressed a button on the side of her chair. The next moment a chocolate chip cookie and a tall glass of milk were pushed on a plate out of the control panel, earning a WTF look from Naruto. **

**After munching on the cookie, Serenity gulped down the milk and went back to the controls. "We're almost over ACDC Town airspace. The cloaking should hide the jet from radar. After I pull up over the Hikari Residence, I'll leave it up to you how you want to get home."**

"**How high up are we anyway?" Naruto asked.**

"**Fifty feet when we approach the Hikari airspace," Serenity answered bluntly. "I'm opening the door, so be quick on your way out. Onii-San's condition is worsening and I don't feel comfortable leaving his side for too long."**

**Naruto suddenly cringed at hearing that last part as the back door opened, the morning snow settling on the new Saturday morning. "What happened? Is he okay?"**

**Serenity stepped out of the cockpit after setting the jet on Hover/Auto-Pilot and grabbed the back of Naruto's collar and waistband before heading to the back. "He took a couple rounds on the way out of that _disaster _you and Jonny call a rescue mission. However that isn't any of your concern. I hope to meet again later under better circumstances."**

**The next moment she threw Naruto out the jet and walked nonchalantly back to the cockpit, not hearing Naruto land in the tree in the Hikari family's back yard, bouncing off a branch or two before hitting the ground with a thud.**

* * *

**Author's Note:  
****Just wanted to get that little bit out of the way. Thought I'd squeeze a little fun out of it too since that issue being resolved should be a little humorous too.**

**Also, the next chapter, we'll be getting back to the events at Den Tech City.**


	5. NetNavi Royale in Net City: PT 1

**Hey folks! Sorry for the long wait! Really, I am.**

**I was having a case of writers block, and I had something else important to do at the time also. Nothing really came to me until now, but I finally got around to putting out the next chapter. Didn't want anyone to think I'd quit writing this story.**

**Anyway, here it is. Hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

The setting was Net City, now completely repaired after the Halberd's initial air raid. Navis had begun occupying that space again, and most of the shops and such had been re-established. Also, the body of the giant robot that had been impaled on the top of a pointy skyscraper had been removed, although there wasn't that much of it left to be removed, since it began to rezz immediately after its defeat.

At that moment, MegaMan, Roll, GutsMfan, Glyde, AquaMan, NumberMan, Meddy, and Iris had all gathered together, eager for some well-awaited Net Battling after not being able to for so long.

"Glad to see they finally fixed up Net City," MegaMan commented as he looked up at the buildings.

"Yeah, after what happened, I thought this place would be out of commission for a lot _longer_," Roll added. The place had only been shut down for a few weeks, reopening a few days after Naruto got out of the hospital after that crazy Grave guy tried experimenting with Naruto's enhanced blood.

"GutsMan will crush those puny Primids next time they show up, guts," GutsMan grunted as he banged his large fists together.

"Hey, has anyone seen Naruto?" Meddy asked as she looked around, expecting to see the orange-clad human/navi.

"Yes, I do admit our group seems a little bit _incomplete_ without our orange-clad companion by our sides," Glyde commented, taking note of the fsurprising lack of orange within his field of vision.

"Oh, Naruto said he had to go out and collect some Commander Fish pictures," MedaMan said after remembering something. "Commander Fish hasn't appeared that much lately, so the value on his pics has jumped quite a bit."

"That's a shame," Iris said saddly. "I really wanted to show him how I've improved on my Net Battling skills."

"Iris, what _exactly _motivated you to become better at Net Battling?" NumberMan asked.

Iris looked away trying to hide the slight blush streaking across her cheeks. "No reason."

"Well, let's get going," MegaMan said as he and Roll linked arms. "We don't want all the battle slots to be filled up."

* * *

When they arrived at the arena, there was already a large crowd gathered in the stands. In the arena, an exciting battle was already taking place.

"It appears that there is a large crowd here," Glyde commented, "possibly for the exciting battle that is taking place."

"Thank you Mr. State-the-Obvious, guts," GutsMan said irritably. The next moment a terrifying roar accompanied by an excited scream pierced the air, along with an excited cheering sound.

"GRRRRROOOOAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"YEEEEHAAAAAAAAAW!"

"What on Earth was that?" Roll cried as she hid herself behind MegaMan.

"I'll go check it out," MegaMan said as he slipped his arm from Roll's. "Glyde, take care of Roll, I'll be back in a second!"

MegaMan ran through the crowd and craned his head so he could get a good look at the battle taking place.

"Well. What do you see?" Meddy asked. "Should I get my MeddyCapsules ready?"

"Uh..." MegaMan _uhhed_. "I'm not exactly sure _what _I'm seeing. I think you should take a look for yourselves."

"OUTTA THE WAY, GUTS!" GutsMan roared as he forced his way through the crowd, letting himself and his friends though to the railing that overlooked the field.

When everyone got there, it was clear that a NetBattle was going on. It took a second to recognize the spiky hair and the piercing eyes of the mysterious enigma, Anonymous, and at the moment he was on the back of a much larger navi, holding him by the neck as to not be thrown off.

The navi in question was a large humanoid/beast-type NetNavi. He wore black under-armor head to toe, had large muscular arms, and powerful beast-like legs like a large feline. He wore white armor streamlined behind him over his shoulders, forearms, chest, thighs, shins, and back. His hands, which had three fingers and a thumb, had small white-armor plates on the backs, and his fingers were large golden claws. His helmet, which was white-armored and resembled a short lion's mane, covered the sides and top of his face, rectangular green lenses over his eyes, and golden fangs protruding from the bottom of the top half of the helmet. Lastly he had a segmented dark grey tail with a white-armored tuft at the end, which was more like an angled rectangular box. The NaviMark on his chest was a stylized neon blue L and the number zero over a black background.

"Woah! That guy's as big as GutsMan!" Roll said astonished, noting the navi's large size.

"Not quite," Glyde added. "While that navi is in fact GutsMan's _height_, he isn't as _wide _in girth."

"Hey! What's _that_ supposed to mean, guts?" GutsMan demanded.

"Shhhh!" Phoenix hushed from a few seats over. "This match is just starting to get good!"

"Phoenix! How's it going sis?" Iris asked as she took a seat next to her.

"Oh its fine," Phoenix said with a shrug.f

"Sis! It's great to see ya!" Karat cheered as she pulled Iris into a crushing bear hug.

At the same time, Key stood by the railing watching Anonymous' match with baited breath.

**Author's Note:**  
**Just in case anyone forgot, Phoenix EXE, Karat EXE, and Key EXE are Iris' three triplet sisters.**

* * *

Down in the arena, Anonymous was hanging onto the neck of the large lion-shaped navi, who at the time was trying fervently to shake him off.

"Grarrr!" the lion-shaped navi roared. "Get off my back!"

At the same time, Anonymous tightened his grip around the navi's neck. "Not on your life LigerMan!"

The large lion-shaped navi, now known as LigerMan, grinned inside his helmet. "Very well then! Let's see how you like _this_!"

The next moment LigerMan front-flipped and slammed Anonymous right into the arena floor, creating a small crater beneath him in the process and sending out a shockwave that could be felt by the people in the front row.

**"Ouch. Looks like Anonymous took the full brunt of _that_ attack," MegaMan said from his seat.**

**"I hope he's okay," Roll said. "I mean, that looked like it really had to have hurt."**

As LigerMan lifted himself up from the crater and took a couple of steps away, he looked back to see Anonymous' arms and legs sticking up out of the crater. "Heh. Looks like I win this round," he said to himself confidently as he walked off.

"Oh really?" Anonymous said as he lifted himself from the crater, brushing some debris from his jacket. He was a little bit scratched up too, obviously from beforehand during the match, and as he stretched his neck, everyone cringed as loud cracking noises pierced the air.

"Grrar. So you still won't go down," LigerMan commented as he crouched down onto all fours and tensed his legs, his tail waving behind him. "I suppose that's a _good _thing. Means this match will be all the more fun."

Anonymous chuckled a dark chuckle that immediately sent chills down the backs of the weaker-willed navis in the audience. "Hey. They don't call me the Enigma of Destruction in the UnderNet for _nothing _you know."

**"Enigma of Destruction?" NumberMan repeated. "That's sort of like _Bass' _title!" he said panicked**

**MegaMan's eyes widened a bit. "You know come to think of it, I don't think we've really seen the _extent _of Anonymous' power. Maybe he _could _be as strong as Bass," he commented.**

**"Hey, who knows?" Phoenix said as she took a sip from her stadium-side drink. "For all we know he could be stronger then all of us put together. At least in theory that is."**

**"Do you really think that's possible?" MegaMan asked, hoping Iris' sister didn't answer _yes_.**

**"Well we _have _faced all sorts of powerful enemies before," Roll commented. "_Anything _is possible from what we've seen."**

"Grrrawrrr! You're mine!" LigerMan roared as he lunged right at Anonymous, his claws and fangs aimed at the throat.

"Right Hook!" Anonymous said dully as he brought his right fist out into LigerMan's face, sending him flying backwards a bit by the force of the attack, the shockwave strong enough to jostle the people in the front row out of their seats into the rows _behind_.

"Grrrrrrrrrr," LigerMan growled as he picked himself up. "Good move I suppose."

Anonymous smirked as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a battle chip. "Well then, if you liked that move, then you'll _love_ this. Boomerang X, Download!"

"Boomerang _X_?" MegaMan and company asked confounded at the same time.

Anonymous' right arm was replaced with a purple launcher, the boomerang a light shade of purple. The next moment he threw it straight at LigerMan.

KSHIN!

**"Holy cow!" Roll cried as she covered her eyes. "Anonymous threw that boomerang right at LigerMan's_ face_!_"_**

**"Wait a minute, I don't think LigerMan's out for the count yet," MegaMan said, pointing to where the boomerang had impacted.**

Everyone suddenly noticed that while the blade was only a few inches from his face, he was really holding between his _teeth_, with enough force to crack the boomerang before shattering it with a mighty-

CRUNCH!

"Heh, excellent move," Anonymous said, clapping his hands for his adversary. "Very few would be capable of doing fsomething like _that_."

LigerMan smirked as he stretched his jaw. "Hey, very few are _able._"

Anonymous nodded at that comment as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "True. True."

"Grrroarrr! Now c'mon! Let's get this fight up and moving!" LigerMan roared. "I'm starting to get bored over here!"

"Hey look! An _eagle_!" Anonymous suddenly shouted as he pointed to the sky behind LigerMan. At that moment everyone, _including_ LigerMan, turned to where Anonymous' finger was pointed. Quite suddenly, Anonymous kicked LigerMan right in the crotch sending him to the ground in a pain-filled heap.

"And the winner is, Anonymous!" a black and white Mr. Prog announced, holding Anonymous' right arm up like they do at the end of a wrestling match.

"Grrrrrr. Oh _come on_!" LigerMan roared between groaning. "That was bullshit!"

"You're just upset because you let your guard down," Anonymous said as he headed for the stands. As he did so, he noticed MegaMan and company, but that they had yet to notice him noticing _them_. "Wow I sure am tired," he said somewhat loudly, loud enough for it to carry to MegaMan and the others. "I think I should take a rest," he concluded. "Let someone else fight."

As Anonymous took a seat in the front row, which everyone already there made due to clear away from, MegaMan was the first in his group to speak up. "Uh, okay then. How 'bout we get registered for the remaining battle slots?"

"Sounds good," Iris replied.

* * *

Back in the Real World, Naruto stretched his back, his PET Watch camera in his hands as he waited for his Commander Fish clone to arrive. He couldn't make his photo-taking seem too easy, otherwise people might start asking him difficult-to-answer questions.

"Man, I can't believe that crazy secretary threw me out of the back of that plane," Naruto moaned as he stretched his back, earning a small cracking sound. The next moment he felt a chill go down his spine, but decided to ignore it when he didn't sense anyone in his immediate vicinity. "Anyway, I wonder what the others are up to right now?" he asked himself.

At that moment he could feel his clone's presence nearing his. He quickly set up the Camera Mode on his PET Watch and readied the holographic screen.

"Okay Commander Fish, say cheese for the camera," Naruto said as his clone landed in his line of sight, right in the middle of a perfect picture. "Daddy needs a new pair of sandals."

* * *

Back in the arena, everyone had registered for their NetBattle slots, and they were all conversing amongst friends as the time ticked by until their numbers were called.

"Net City is almost back to normal, huh MegaMan?" Roll asked as she leaned on his shoulder against the arena wall.

"Yeah, almost, but I can't say for certain things will ever _be _normal around here," MegaMan admitted jokingly. Things never stayed normal for long. I mean just look back to that meteor containing the Cybeast/Nine Tailed Fox. That was _far _from normal, even by _their _standards.

"Well _I _for one think normal would make things too boring," Roll replied with a smile.

"I'm starting to think I've been a bad influence on you," MegaMan said jokingly as he kissed Roll on the cheek.

"Oh yes, I've been a very naughty girl," Roll said with a mischevious look in her eyes. "Whatever will you do to punish me?" she whispered into his ear.

"Uhhhhh..." A nervous blush streaked across MegaMan's face, but both of their thoughts were cut short as a familiar NetNavi came into view to their right.

"Trill! Hey Trill, is that you?" Roll called out, forgetting what she was about to do to MegaMan.

The said Navi turned around. "MegaMan! Roll! It's great to see you guys!" he said as he ran over to them. He was now a teenager and wore a yellow jumpsuit with white lines on it, white gloves and boots with yellow trim, and a yellow helmet with white squares and two jester-like attachments on the side of his helmet. His NaviMark was the same as MegaMan's, except it was turned clockwise ninety degrees and was yellow.

"Trill, look how much you've grown!" MegaMan commented as the now-grown up Trill ran over to meet them. "I feel like it was just yesterday you were only up to my knee."

"Hey, I've done a bit of growing up in the past six years," Trill commented.

"Six _years_?" MegaMan and Roll commented.

"Yeah," Trill repeated. "I don't know why, but after you defeated the Cybeast: Grezar, the timelines between this world and the Beyondard began to deviate from one another on a larger scale."

"But then how'd you get _here_?" Roll asked.

"I found a door between our worlds and decided to come for a visit," Trill replied with a smile. "So I see you two are together now," he said seeing MegaMan's arm around Roll's waist.

"Hehe. Yeah, I guess you could say that," Roll replied.

"Well in that case, that must be your kid over _there_," Trill said pointing to the left, earning a confused look from the blue and pink NetNavis.

"Say _what_?" MegaMan and Roll said, following Trill's finger toward its intended target.

The said Navi was standing by one of the pillars by himself, and in fact he did bear a lot of similarities between MegaMan and Roll. His helmet was like MegaMan's, except the coloring was black with yellow decoration, the key difference being that the bars were shaped like lightning bolts. His hip-length hair was the same color as Roll's, except it had blue streaks in it, and was in a ponytail rather than having a bow towards the bottom. His eyes were jade-colored like Roll's, except they had a tint of blue on the edges. His jumpsuit was pitch black with gold lightning bolt patterns on the sides, and what looked like Roll's "antennae" were mounted on his shoulders and flowed down his back like twin capes. His gloves and boots were the same style as MegaMan's, except they were yellow and had a lightning bolt motif. The main _unique _element was his NaviMark, which was a blue and pink lightning bolt, the prior starting on the upper left and arcing to the lower right, and the latter starting on the upper right and arcing to the lower left, formed an X-shaped pattern.

"Trill, that NetNavi may _look _like us, but he certainly isn't _our _kid," MegaMan said nervously. "Roll and I have only been together for a couple months, and even _that_…" he said, his voice trailing off awkwardly.

"So he _isn't _your kid?" Trill said. "Odd. He looks just like a mix between the_ both_ of you. _Enough so _to be your kid."

"You think we should ask him who he is?" MegaMan asked.

"It can't _hurt_," Roll said. "Hey! Excuse me! Over there!" she called out.

The aforementioned NetNavi turned around, nearly having a conniption when he saw MegaMan and Roll coming towards him. "Um. Hello. Can I help you two?" he asked nervously.

"Could you tell us who you are?" MegaMan asked. "I'd like to think there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for why you look like us," he said pointing to himself and Roll.

"Um… Uh…" the NetNavi stammered nervously. "How do the two of you know _you _don't look like _me_?" he asked nervously in defense, almost as though he had something to hide.

"Hm…" Roll _hmed _as she looked at his eyes. "Well I suppose there are all kinds of custom-made Navis out there, so a few are bound to look like one another," she concluded.

"Yeah… That's it," he said nervously, almost like he was hiding something.

"Well anyway, I'm MegaMan, this is Roll, and the kid behind us is Trill," MegaMan said introducing himself and the two others behind him. "What's your name?"

"Um. My name's Volt," he replied. "I uh, just thought I'd come here for a good fight is all."

"Ah, I see," MegaMan concluded. "I will say though, your design is very unique. Matches your namesake pretty well."

Volt looked himself over and saw the lightning-based designs adorning his body. "Eh heh. Yeah, I guess it kinda does," he said rubbing the back of his head.

"Will the NetNavis Roulette E.X.E. and NumberMan E.X.E. please step into the arena please?" the arena manager's voice called out through the intercom.

"It looks like NumberMan's up," MegaMan commented.

"Yeah, although I wonder who _Roulette _is," Roll added.

* * *

**NumberMan V.S. Roulette**

NumberMan and Roulette stood across from one another on the battlefield, both of them narrowing their eyes as they readied themselves for battle. On the big screen above the number slowly counted down from 3, 2, 1, then read GO!

At that moment NumberMan summoned his NumberStaff and lunged at Roulette, swinging his weapon wildly. When he approached Roulette, she simply dashed backwards along the ground, pink sparkles scattering at her feet as she shuffled a deck of cards in her hands before throwing one at NumberMan, knocking him on his back with a concussive force after calling out "Card Shot."

"Hm. Only a two," Roulette mused as she picked up the card, seeing how the concussive force was the second lowest. "I guess I've been out of practice for a while."

"Ooogh," NumberMan groaned as he got to his feet. "No more playing around. Dice Bomb!" he cried as he threw a quarter-dozen die around Roulette, landing on all 5s.

The next moment there was a massive explosion. In the stands, SamuraiMan made to move down into the arena, but Anonymous put a hand on his shoulder. When he saw the look in Anonymous' eyes, he knew there wasn't reason to interfere.

In the midst of NumberMan's cheering, it was suddenly cut short as the smoke cleared, revealing a half-dozen cards moving around Roulette like a spinning wall. After the smoke had fully cleared, the half-dozen cards suddenly flew into the air before shrinking and landing in her hands.

"Ah, so you are finished playing around I assume," Roulette said coyly, her eyes practically smiling.

"What? I hit her with four fives!" NumberMan cried.

"Too late. Bye-bye," Roulette said as she threw three fat NumberMan's head, small cracking sounds being heard each time. When they clattered to the ground, he looked down and was shocked to find a one, two, three, four, five, _and _six face staring up at him.

"What the-"

BOOOOOOOOOM!

The next moment NumberMan was blown clear out of the arena and into the distance. At that time everyone's jaws were dropped.

"Yay! I win!" Roulette cheered as the Referee Prog. Announced her the winner.

* * *

"Uhhh… What just happened?" Roll asked. Only three dice fhad been thrown, but NumberMan was somehow knocked back by _six _exploding die faces.

"Don't look at me, guts," GutsMan muttered. "I barely know what's happening _half _the time, guts."

"Yes, I too would wish to know what just happened," Glyde added.

At the same time up in the stands, Anonymous merely shrugged, giving off the impression he didn't know either, though he _did_.

"Annyki," Amy said nudging Anonymous' arm. "I thought Roulette threw _three_dice. Why'd _six _land?"

Anonymous looked around before whispering into her ear. _"You know how die have six sides? A one, two, three, four, five, and six? Well the two faces on the die that are opposite from each other will always equal to seven. Now, when NumberMan got hit in the face, the die split in half, so Roulette was able to toss three sevens in the form of a one and six, two and five, and a three and four."_

Amy nodded. "Ooooooooh. I see."

Anonymous nodded while pulling up the hood on his jacket, the cowl hiding the smug grin on his face at how easily he had figured Roulette's own "Double Rolling" technique out.

"**Would the NetNavis GutsMan and LigerMan please come down to the arena for your scheduled NetBattle?"**

"Here Amy. Take this money and get us some popcorn. _This, _is gonna be good," Anonymous said handing her some Zenny as the two large NetNavis stepped down to fight.

"Okay Annyki!" Amy cheered as she ran off to get the popcorn.

**Author's Note:  
For those of you who have yet to read the prequel, Amy calling Anonymous "Annyki" is like anyone else calling someone "Aniki", which means "older brother".**

* * *

GutsMan and LigerMan both stepped down into the arena, their heights matching, but their girths being differently distributed.

"ROOOOAR! I'M GONNA BITE RIGHT THROUGH YA!" LigerMan roared as he slashed and bit into the air in front of him.

"I'M GONNA CRUSH YOU!" GutsMan bellowed as he banged his fists together.

"Let the match begin!" the Referee Prog. announced before flying away.

**GutsMan vs LigerMan**

LigerMan and GutsMan ran at each other, yelling their battle cry as they swung their opposing fists at each other's faces.

"Urrrrgh!" they both grunted as their faces met each other's fists.

**"Oooh! Cross-Counter!" Amy _ooohed_.**

Both of them were instantly thrown on their backs, the hit knocking them off their feet. After a minute they were back on their feet, punching each other brutally; Punching, kicking, kneeing, and headbutting without remorse for the better part.

"Guts Punch!" GutsMan roared as his fist doubled in size as he threw it straightforward at LigerMan.

"It's time to end this fight!" LigerMan roared as he nimbly jumped out of the way and landed on all fours. Suddenly, his front claws began to glow as he ran at GutsMan like a large animal. As GutsMan reared his fist back, LigerMan suddenly leapt into the air, his claws leaving a golden trail behind him as he did. "Strike Laser Claw!" he roared as he slashed through GutsMan's right arm.

"Guts!" GutsMan cried at the loss of his arm -again-.

"**That's gotta be rough," MegaMan said.**

"**What do you mean?" Volt and Trill asked, then looked at each other before waiting for the answer.**

"**GutsMan has already lost an arm or both on numerous occasions," MegaMan answered.**

"**Ahhhhhhh," Volt and Trill both said. "Hey quit doing that!" they both said again. "Stop that!" they both said **_**again**_**. "CUT IT OU-" they were both about to say again, only for Anonymous to stuff a fist in both their mouthes.**

"**Quit talking," Anonymous grunted, then paled as he felt cyber-drool slipping between his fingers. "Yuck! Quit **_**drooling**_**!" he roared as he flicked them in the back of the throat before pulling his hands out of their mouthes and shaking the spit off them.**

As Volt and Trill both ran for the bathroom, holding their hands over their mouthes, GutsMan retaliated by punching LigerMan with his remaining arm right in the stomach, knocking the air out of him as he was knocked backwards.

"Take this!" LigerMan cried as he suddenly ran up and kicked GutsMan in the stomach. "Guts!" GutsMan grunted as he headbutted LigerMan straight in the face. "Bite me you jar head!" LigerMan grunted as he bit GutsMan in the thigh. "Yowch!" GutsMan cried as he got bitten.

**"Uhhhhh..." MegaMan _uhhhhhed _as the two large Navis continued to bite, kick, punch, and elbow each other, their fight changing from epic to just a plain bout between two big kindergardeners.**

This back-and-forth motion continued on for several minutes, both of them exchanging blows until they separated. The two large NetNavis then stood across from each other, their power in a stalemate, despite the loss of GutsMan's arm.

However, after a few minutes, a smile formed on LigerMan's face from inside his mask, an insidious plot forming.

"Hey look! An eagle!" LigerMan suddenly shouted, pointing into the sky.

At that moment GutsMan and everyone else turned to the sky to look for the supposed eagle, though Anonymous and company didn't since he'd seen that bit before. At the very same time, LigerMan kicked GutsMan in the crotch and sent him to the ground in a heap.

"The winner is LigerMan!" the Referee Prog. announced as he held up his arm.

"Oh _come on_!" GutsMan groaned.

"Hey, you shouldn't have taken your eyes off me," LigerMan said bluntly as he walked off. At the same moment, everyone else just paled –especially the males, though Anonymous didn't let it show with the cowl of his hood up-.

* * *

"Uhhhh . . . Did that just happen, _twice_?" Roll asked.

MegaMan nodded. "Yeah . . . It did."

"Pansy. You don't see _me _paling," Anonymous said leaning forward.

"That's because you're wearing a _hood_," MegaMan said pointing his finger at him.

"Rock. If someone tried to do that to me, they'd never _find_ the body," Anonymous said, flashing an evil, malicious, demonic, grim, hateful… Where was I going with this? Oh yeah, dark grin from the inside of his hood.

"I don't think he's kidding," Trill said, finally coming back from the bathroom.

"I wouldn't put it past him to make a special trip to the _UnderNet_ to hide the body," Volt said, adding his two zenny.

MegaMan looked back up at Anonymous, still flashing his evil, mali-

**Get on with it already!**

-grin from behind his cowl and scooted a seat over. Make that two.

"MegaMan? Why'd you just scoot over?" Roll asked as he sat on her other side.

"Just don't ask me to leave you," MegaMan said timidly, seeing the corner of Anonymous' grin from the side of his cowl.

"Oh. Okay MegaMan," Roll said as she pulled him to her side.

MegaMan looked over Roll's shoulder and saw that Anonymous had gone somewhere else. After he sighed a sigh of relief, he turned around and came face-to-face with a sneering Anonymous on his right.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" MegaMan cried before soundly passing out.

" . . . " Anonymous stared as he watched MegaMan fall out of his seat and onto his face. "Some boyfriend huh?"

"Yeah, but he's _my _boyfriend," Roll said sweetly with hearts in her eyes.

Anonymous simply shrugged his shoulders as he moved to a different seat.

* * *

A few minutes later.

"It's been a while since we've all sat back and relaxed like this," Roll sighed as she leaned back in her seat.

"Yeah. It's good to slow down once in a while," MegaMan said. "It's been almost a month since the _you-know-what_," he added.

Roll shuddered. _"I had thought that Grave would've given up by now."_

"_I know. And hey, did you hear about those auto-piloted vans driving up to the hospital full of comatose patients? It looks like our mysterious friends have been helping things along a bit."_

"_Yeah, but the entire site was clean," _Roll added. _"No fingerprints or anything to prove anyone was actually there. Though I _did _hear something about a mountain of bodies having been shoved into the storage rooms.__"_

"Someone talking 'bout me?" Anonymous asked as he threw his arms over their shoulders with a smile. _"If you _don't_ want to see the end of your warranty, you'll keep your yappers _quiet_. Especially when that was part of the deal we'd made," _he whispered with a smile. _"Capiche?"_

"Sure thing… _buddy,_" Roll replied with a smile. _"Don't worry. We'll keep our end of the bargain."_

"Good girl," Anonymous said as he pat their shoulders. "You should get ready for the next match. I see a friend of yours in the wings. We'll have to exchange stories some time," he added as he walked off.

"What does he mean?" Roll asked.

"**Will the NetNagis Roll and Trill please come down to the arena. It's time for your NetBattle."**

"_Wow _he's good," MegaMan said.

"Well. I'll see you later," Roll smiled. "I've got to see how much Trill has come in his supposed six years."

* * *

**Roll vs Trill**

"It's been a long time Roll," Trill said with a nod as he stood across the field from her. "About six years or so since I've seen you last."

"That it has Trill. That it has," Roll replied. "Now. Are you ready to NetBattle?"

Trill responded by using a WideSword chip. "You bet I am!"

"Very well then," Roll replied. "LongBlade!"

"Ah! Wait! I wanna start over!" he cried as Roll lunged at him with the LongBlade and nearly clippedhis shoulder within five seconds.

"No such luck there I'm afraid!" Roll said as she swung her sword, Trill barely blocking it and being knocked back with each swing.

Roll swung left with Trill blocking with his right. As he fumbled backwards, Roll swung overhead, Trill barely holding the blade with a horizontal block. Trill tried to stab at Roll's side, but she sidestepped and slashed his arm at the base of the sword.

"YOW!" Trill cried as his sword arm disengaged. "What was that for?"

"That's common procedure for dealing with sword-using opponents," Roll replied with a smile.

"Maybe I bit off more then I could chew this time," Trill said to himself, slightly paling.

"Vulcan!" Roll called as she turned her right arm from a sword into a gatling gun and started firing at Trill.

"EEEEEEEEEE!" Trill cried as he ran like mad.

" **. . . " Anonymous stared on. "He's a real chip of the ol' block ain't he?"**

"**I don't see what you mean," MegaMan replied, crossing his arms indignantly.**

**Anonymous just flashed an evil smirk, dark flames burning behind his eyes, causing MegaMan to faint screaming silently. **

As the sound of a body hitting the ground drifted into the air, Trill continued to run and dodge bullets. "Come on Roll! Is this really necessary?"

"Hurry up, Trill!" Roll shouted over the firing of her gatling gun. "It looks like you aren't even trying!"

"Okay then! You asked for it!" Trill said as he started digging in his pants. A few of the navis paled in the audience 'til they saw him pull a bunch of cubes from his _pockets_. "Go! Dice Roll!" he shouted as he threw six die between him and Roll. The next moment they transformed into a squad of yellow, red, and blue mettuar.

**Anonymous' attention was piqued at this display. "Viruses? They aren't domesticated, that much I can tell, so where did they come from?"**

"**Trill has the ability to capture viruses and put them into cube form," Iris answered. "A fascinating ability really, though I've never been able to figure out the root of it."**

"**Hmmmm. Interesting," Anonymous said rubbing his chin.**

"**By the way. What happened to MegaMan?" Iris asked looking at the KOd body of MegaMan lying on the ground.**

"**Nothing," Anonymous lied.**

"Ah, I'd almost forgot you could do that," Roll said. "However, I've got a trick up my sleeve too," she said as she kissed the tips of her fingers before waving her hand. "Roll Blast!"

The six mettuars were instantly deleted by the rows of heart-shaped projectiles that struck them repetitively. The next moment Trill brought out two dark blue die before summoning a pair of wolf-shaped viruses. He quickly activated his Buster and started firing white shots as the wolf viruses at his sides launched fireballs at Roll.

"Guard!" Roll called as a large mettuar helmet fell down over her, shielding her from the attack.

"Keep firing!" Trill shouted as he and the wolves fired on the mettuar shield repetitively.

After a few minutes, the shield broke in a cloud of smoke. As Trill and the two viruses were about to fire alongside him, the smoke cleared bringing them face-to-face with a fully-charged Zeta Cannon.

"Oh sweet nibblets!" Trill cried as he turned around and ran for it. Roll's blasts immediately knocked the two viruses out and began gunning at his feet.

"Run boy run!" Roll called as she continued firing at him, kicking up clouds of dust with each blast.

"Think fast! Think fast! Think fast!" Trill cried to himself as he ran for his life. "Wait! I've got it! Aqua Tower: Triple Download!" he said as he crushed the three chips in his hand before slamming his palm down onto the ground, summoning a large tower that absorbed the Zeta Cannon shots, then continued at Roll.

"Woah!" Roll cried as _she _was now on the defensive. As the triple-large water attack was about to overtake her, she suddenly remembered the battle chip she had yet to use. "TyphoonDance!"

She began spinning wildly as the battle chip data poured into her, doing a graceful pirouette a she tore through the triple AquaTower with the spinning motion of her body, a veil of wind around her in the form of spinning blades.

"Huh?" Trill said dumbfounded as Roll came to a stop. "I've never heard of that chip before."

Roll held the sides of her head, not used to the spinning motion of using that attack. "That's new to me too." Trill quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out another die, only for Roll to transform her arm. "Roll Arrow!" she called as she struck his wrist, causing his die to disappear from his hand. "Sorry Trill, but I'm going to have to cut this battle short," she said as she took three more battle chips from her pocket. "Sword: Download… Widesword: Download…"

"**Wait… Is Roll activating the-" MegaMan said after waking up.**

"Longsword: Download… Program Advance!" Roll called as she held her two swords above her head before they turned purple and formed a massive blade above her head. "Life Sword!" she called as she swung the ethereal blade in a wide arc, sending a shockwave at Trill.

"Ahhhhh!" Trill cried before he was struck by the attack and knocked out.

"NetBattle, Finished! The winner is Roll!" the Referee Prog. declared holding Roll's arm up.

* * *

"Well MegaMan. Things are certainly getting exciting around here," Anonymous said with a grin, having watched the NetBattle and had found it most amusing.

MegaMan nodded with his arms crossed. "Oh I wouldn't say _that_. This is just a normal day in Net City. NetBattles are a common thing here."

"Of course it is." Anonymous simply replied with a nod. With more NetBattles on the wings, things certainly were going to get more exciting around there.

**To be continued…**

* * *

**Omake  
****Setting: NME Secret Bunker (Cafeteria and Hallway)**

**At the moment, Onii-San sat in a wheelchair, a white blanket over his legs and a blue one over his shoulders. His jacket had been removed for cleaning, leaving him in only his boxers and a T-shirt, bandages on his arms, legs, and chest for where he took a couple stray rounds during the incident that would from then on be referred to as "That **_**Catastrophe**_** of a Rescue Mission".**

"**Here sir. I've brought the recommended courses to prompt a swifter recovery," Serenity said as she walked over to the table he was at. The next moment she sat next to him at the table and set a tray down with a large amount of hospital-grade food.**

**Onii-San looked at the tray of food suspiciously. "Okay I can understand the lentils to help with my protein, the milk to help with my calcium, and the tall glass of water to help with my body's chemical balance, but **_**that**_**?" he said pointing to a brown rectangular-shaped pile of food.**

"**Liver is high in iron and will help with your body's blood cell loss," Serenity said in a level tone as she looked at a clip board with Onii-San's statistics on them. "If you had insisted on going with them from the beginning, you wouldn't have taken the hits you **_**had**_**."**

**Onii-San sighed as he looked at the liver on his plate. "Serenity. You **_**know **_**how much I detest liver."**

"**Just eat it sir," Serenity said as she readjusted her glasses. "It's good for you, and there won't be nearly as much trouble from it later."**

"**Blah. I don't wanna," Onii-San sticking out his tongue in a manner that bellied his age.**

**At that moment Serenity narrowed her eyes.**

**Meanwhile outside the cafeteria in the hallway. Bolt Light (the new intern from only-Onii-San-knows-where) was walking by the hall when he heard something peculiar from the other side of the cafeteria door.**

**He pressed his ear to the door and heard the sound of something made of metal crashing to the floor. A second later he heard the sound of a body hitting the floor, and then another body hitting **_**that **_**body.**

"**Say you like eating red carpet!" he heard Serenity shout from the other side of the door.**

"**I like eating red carpet," he heard Onii-San mumble from the other side of the door.**

"**Say it like you mean it!" Serenity prompted, accompanied by the sound of something hitting the floor.**

"**I like eating red carpet!" Onii-San cried.**

_**What in the Zones could those two be talking about? **_**Bolt asked himself as he listened to the exchange of words. At that moment he remembered something from a certain orange book he had happened to get a peek at one time. **_**Sounds like an episode of the boss and the naughty secretary.**_

**His curiosity got the better of him, and he tried to open the door slightly, but instead of it opening a crack, it whooshed open all the way, sending him sprawling to the floor in a heap. "Uh. Sorry. Am I interrupting anything?" he said as he held his hands over his eyes.**

"**Bolt. May I ask what you're averting your eyes from?" Bolt heard Onii-San ask in a tired expression.**

**Bolt peeked between his fingers, but quickly removed his hands as what he saw betrayed the innuendo that had formed in his mind moments before.**

**Instead of… **_**you know**_**, Onii-San was being driven into the floor, Serenity holding his left arm backwards like a professional wrestling hold. On the table was a tray of different foods and drinks, and behind the both of them was an overturned wheelchair.**

"**Sir. I think young Bolt here has merely **_**misunderstood**_** something," Serenity said coolly, straightening her glasses and clothing as she rose to her feet.**

"**Uh. I'll just be going-" Bolt said before-**

"**However… That on its own isn't enough to overlook his transgression," Serenity finished as a red aura of killing intent **_**literally **_**formed around her.**

"**What's I **_**do**_**?" Bolt asked weakly as he slowly crawled out of the room backwards.**

"**You called me a **_**secretary**_**," she answered as she strode towards him. "I utterly **_**detest **_**that derogatory term. It sets women's right back by five hundred years for Christ's sake!"**

"**I didn't **_**say **_**secretary!" Bolt protested as he found his limbs failing.**

"**But you **_**thought**_** it," she said coldly as she cracked her knuckles before bringing out and cocking a powerful-looking shotgun.**

"**How did she **_**know**_**?" Bolt cried as he continued to flail his limbs uselessly.**

"**Personal Assistants tent to be a very knowledgeable type," Onii-San said from his position on the floor as he flexed his left arm, making sure it hadn't gotten dislocated in the **_**fall**_**.**

"**What do I do now?" Bolt asked as Serenity neared him with every step, cocking her shotgun mid-stride.**

"**I'd run," he replied evenly, still on the floor and unable to get up. "Like, right **_**now**_**."**

"**Aieeeeee!" Bolt cried as he was suddenly able to move his limbs correctly again through the KI and managed to make a break for it down the hall.**

**Onii-San sighed as his personal assistant chased the new intern down the hall like a wild animal (the latter, not the prior). "Great. Another **_**problem **_**to deal with."**

**

* * *

**

**Trill's teenage body would probably go under the category of an OOC. Although he's still the property of his respective copyright.**

**Volt E.X.E. is NOT a character under my ownership, however I have been allowed to hint who he belongs to in a more "subtle" manner then announcing it outright by the author.**

**The term "rezz" or "rezzing" is where data in the Cyber World begins to break apart from either damage, or some other factor. It is also usually accompanied by a low hissing sound, like when the TV is acting up.**

**Author's Notes:  
****LigerMan E.X.E. is an OC owned by Spider-Fox93 and created for use in this FanFic. His NetOp will come into the story later, who is ALSO owned by Spider-Fox93. LigerMan himself is based off of Zoid's Liger Zero**


	6. NetNavi Royale in Net City: PT 2

After Roll was declared the winner, MegaMan went down to the field to help Trill to his feet after he'd been knocked out.

"You okay?" MegaMan asked.

Trill rubbed his temples as he took the help up. "Kinda. Just wish I hadn't lost to a girl though."

"And _why _exactly is _that_?" Roll asked grimly as she cracked her knuckles ominously behind Trill, two yellow gleams shining from behind a veil of shadow that overtook the top of her face.

"Trill… Run," MegaMan muttered before he and Trill took off running, an angry-as-hell Roll on their heels like the hounds of hell. Or in this case, just _hound_.

"**Er…Okay,"**the Referee Prog. announced as he floated back down to the stage.**"The next match will take place in a few minutes."**

**

* * *

**

A few minutes later, the next match between MegaMan and the oddly-similar-in-design-to-Roll-and-himself-NetNavi, Volt, was announced.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Megaman-san," Volt bowed, "It will be an honor to do battle with the famous Blue Bomber."

"Oh…Uh…Thanks?" Megaman chuckled sheepishly.

"So no hard feelings when I beat ya, old man!" Volt grinned.

**"Old man?" Roll and a beaten-up Trill repeated.**

"Why are you calling me 'old man?'" Megaman asked.

"Because you are an old man from where I'm from!" Volt replied.

"Why you little…!" Megaman growled.

"You sound like Uncle Homer right now," Volt chuckled.

The starting bell rang and Megaman lunged at Volt. Volt smirked before a nunchuck materialized in his right hand. He proceeded to strike Megaman with the weapon multiple times in a minute before kicking him halfway across the field.

"Guess I should've warned ya I know Dao Dan Do," Volt said as Megaman got up, "I'm a master of Close Range combat with it…although I'm still trying to perfect it."

_"Yikes!" _Lan yelped from the holographic monitor at MegaMan's shoulder, _"Be careful, Megaman. Just stay away from him and use long-range shots."_

"Uh…Yeah…Little teensy problem with that," Volt, suddenly before Megaman, said before kicking Megaman into the air, "Dao Dan Do: Rocket Launch!"

Megaman was sent a few meters into the air by the attack. He exhaled a relieved sigh, having been able to shield himself from the attack by using his arm. A finger tapped his shoulder. He turned and paled, seeing Volt above him before Volt kicked him in the gut.

"ICBM Kick!" Volt shouted, sending Megaman into the ground, cracking it a little, as he began to spin in the air, "Chinese Dive-bomber…Missile Strike!"

He proceeded to strike Megaman in the face, sending him deeper into the ground. He jumped back with a sweatdrop. He began to sheepishly chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Guess I overdid it?" Volt pondered when he was blasted by Megaman, his left arm now a blue cannon.

"Thanks for the Recovery Chip and HiCannon, Lan," Megaman spoke.

"Oh yeah…Forgot about those healing BattleChips," Volt bopped his open palm with his fist before his left arm was encased in lightning, "Well…seems I'm going to have to make things more interesting. Raiken!"

With that, he swung his lightning-coated fist at Megaman, releasing a fist made of electricity at him. Megaman barely dodged and aimed his HiCannon at Volt. Volt dashed at Megaman, releasing a sonic boom, and went by him. The wind generated by the sonic boom sent Megaman into a wall, breaking the HiCannon. Volt grinned as he played around with a strange metal bar, a scoop on one end and a hammer on the other, while tossing up and down a stone sphere. Lan sent Megaman a Sword BattleChip and Megaman charged. Volt smirked before using the hammer end to whack the ball at Megaman. He sliced through the sphere and received a whack to the head by the weapon.

"Oi. Let me give you a hint; use Double Soul," Volt advised as he made the weapon vanish.

"…What? You want me to use Double Soul?" Megaman asked.

"Yeah. I mean, I feel like I'm being insulted," Volt said.

"…Are you sure you want me to use a Double Soul?" Megaman asked.

"Trust me. I need the practice," Volt replied as he stretched until he heard a pop, "Ah…Now that's good."

"O-Okay…" Lan said, "Napalm-Soul: Download!"

Megaman glowed before more armor formed over him. The armor was a light purple while his helmet reshaped to give him a visor. From his back, two turrets formed. He aimed the turrets at Volt and open fired. Volt grinned as he began to begin to run around, easily avoiding the attack.

"BlkBomb, Download!" Lan called.

"You're too sl…" Volt began when a giant, black bomb fell into his arms, "What's huh…?"

"Oh, Volt…" Megaman DS smirked as he aimed a turret at the gold NetNavi, making him pale.

"Uh oh…" Volt gulped when a red bullet hit the bomb, creating a large explosion.

**"Ooh…!" everyone watching flinched as they watched Volt fly out of the smoke and land on his face across the arena while Megaman DS released Double Soul.**

"Why you…!" Volt growled as he formed as he formed a gold MegaBuster, "VoltBlaster!"

"Ack! MegaBuster!" Megaman shouted.

As the two continued to exchange fire, shots grazing each other's edges with none hitting in the center, the two continued to run across from each other. As the stray shots headed towards the stands, the new defense shields took the attacks in stride.

The next moment, one of MegaMan's shots connected with Volt's right shoulder. When the smoke cleared, it revealed a red tattoo in the shape of a small bird facing the left with two tufts on the back of its head, its wing behind it made of two black feathers as it sat on a curved arrow that pointed diagonally downward on the left and upward on the right beneath his black jumpsuit; Which was surprising since most navis would've begun to rezz at that point, and didn't usually have anything under there.

Volt looked at his shoulder, then shook his head. "I was hoping you wouldn't have seen that. But now that you have, I can't really afford to hold back anymore."

"Why? What's so special about that mark?" MegaMan asked suspiciously, as he readied his buster.

"This mark is one my sister and I received when we were born," Volt explained, "This mark is of the Guild we forever remain part of. There, everyone is family, not just friends. We blend the chi of our bodies with the chi in the air, creating what many call 'magic.' I am a wizard of Fairy Tail!"

**"Fairy Tail?" Roll repeated.**

**"It sounds interesting," Trill added.**

"Now to stop holding back. If I lose to you again, Aunt Erza's going to clobber me with all 1000 of her swords…again…" Volt shuddered.

_His aunt can wield a thousand swords? _everyone thought a sweatdrop and shocked expressions.

With his eyes closed, Volt reached behind his back, then when he brought his fist back out to the front, reopened them.

"Soul Unison! WarGreymon X-Soul! Download!" Volt said as he activated the Double Soul chip in his hands, a wave of fire, water, and electricity engulfing him.

The next moment the flash of light cleared, Volt was now in a vastly different outfit. His jumpsuit was now a deep crimson-orange, with black armor extending on his back into two orange-armored rocket-like devices; On his torso was glowing, bulky silver armor with four blue crystals on the front, held back by four belts crossing at the center of his back. Out of the sides of his chest armor, four red cables connected to the orange shoulder guards he wore –an orange blade sticking from the top-, and on the metal black guard that covered his lower area. On his arms, he wore orange bracers double in size then what his arms normally were, four sleek silver blades coated in orange flames on them, and at the front of the blades were glowing blue stones. His legs were silver-armored with long blades emerging from his knees, blue crystals resembling eyes at the base of the blades, which then resembled horns. At the base of the silver leg armor were deep crimson-orange dragon feet-like boots with silver nails. Lastly, his head now bore a silver helmet resembling a dragon skull –a pointed horn at the 'nose' and two that formed into right angles on the sides of his head-. His blonde hair was now shoulder length, and re-colored crimson as it flowed out of the back of his helmet.

"What the…? Double Soul?" MegaMan said in shock as his opponent raised his hands to the sky. "I thought _I _was the only one who could do that!"

"Well apparently you've started a trend," Anonymous stated curtly. "Maybe."

"Oi! Well…That is true…But I think it's Megaman Prime that started it," DS Volt noted, "Still can't believe it took-Oop! Almost said something I shouldn't have said…My bad!"

"Megaman _Prime_?" Megaman repeated, wondering what he meant by that last word.

"Nothing!" DS Volt replied as he waved the NetNavi off.

"Meh. It doesn't look so tough," Anonymous shrugged, earning DS Volt to gain a twitch in his left eye.

"Well…Then let's see if you can prove it," DS Volt growled, "Come down here and we'll see."

"Wait, what about our-" Megaman began when DS Volt punted him into the stands, landing between Roll and Trill in an unconscious heap.

"There! It's done! Now then, Anonymous-san…Let's see you back up your claim," DS Volt declared.

Anonymous smirked as he hopped down from his seat and stood across from Volt on the battlefield. "Well if you really want to, then who am I to refuse a promising young NetBattler like yourself?"

"Yeah! Now we're talkin'!" DS Volt replied excitedly as he readied his DS form's claws.

"However..." Anonymous said as he reached into his pocket. "How 'bout we make this a little more..._interesting_," saying the last part with emphasis as he assumed a devilish grin.

"How?" DS Volt asked, suspicious of Anonymous' intentions as his hand stopped digging through his right pocket suspiciously.

"With _this_," Anonymous said as he pulled out, what else, but a Double Soul chip. On the emblem was a large toothy shark-like grin and a glaring gold feline-like eye over it. "Your Double Soul chip against _mine_."

"Wait? He's got Double Soul too?" MegaMan said in shock.

"Now then," Anonymous said as he closed his hand around the chip, allowing its data to pour into his body. "Let's get this started shall we?"

**Gurren Lagann Soundtrack – Nikopol Viraru**

There was an intense flash of light, and in the midst of it, Anonymous had transformed. When the light cleared, he looked entirely different then he did before.

He now wore a dark brown jacket with thick red shoulder armor, and spiky white cuffs of some kind of animal fur on his wrists next to his hands, which had now doubled in size, were a dirty shade of brown, and had powerful-looking claws on them. Around his waist he wore a red armored belt with a large square-shaped sheath attached to the back. His pants were dark brown, and he had white bandages wrapped at his ankles up to bellow his knees, and he wore black shoes with red points to them. What had changed the most were his features; His hair was a dirty blond and laid down to his shoulders, his eyes were gold-colored and more feral-looking, and his mouth was filled with sharp fangs, giving him the appearance of a tiger shark.

"There. Now the playing field's been leveled out a bit," DS Anonymous announced, his voice a little more feral then it was a few moments before as his grin widened, threatening to tear his face in two.

"Hey, wait a minute!" DS Volt said taking a step back while pointing a finger at him in a shocked manner. "How was I supposed to know _you _had Double Soul too?"

"**I'm still trying to get over **_**you **_**having it," MegaMan murmured from the stands.**

"You _didn't_!" DS Anonymous chuckled as his hand went to the handle in the sheath behind his back, then drew his weapon which looked like a three foot-long razor. "Now Volt, let's see how your Double Soul compares to mine."

"Ulp…" Volt paled, _He just had to use a Double Soul of Uncle Viral…_

With that, he flew up into the air. His hands began to shake as the moisture in the air began to collect in them. As he held his hands into the air, a giant sphere of water was created, making everyone gawk at the sight except for DS Anonymous.

"Poseidon…_Force_!" DS Volt roared as he threw his arms forward, sending the giant sphere of water straight at DS Anonymous, who barely jumped out of the way as the water collided with the ground, creating a large water explosion. Nearly everyone gulped when they saw that the attack's pressure had created a giant crater. Volt landed and the blades on his guards erupted in flames as they reshaped into an 'X' shape.

"Dramon Killer!" DS Volt roared as he dashed at DS Anonymous, the attack being parried by DS Anonymous's blade and caused a stalemate.

"Not…bad…!" he replied with a smirk.

"I could…say the same…for you!" DS Anonymous replied as he released and slugged DS Volt in the gut and then preformed a kick to the face, sending him into a wall.

**"I hate my job…" a Mettau with a rope tied around his helmet muttered as he and a group of Mettau groaned at the wall breaking.**

**"Uh…Viruses maintain this place?" Megaman asked.**

**"Just us," the head Mettau replied, "Though I'm thinking of going on strike with my men. …Ignore us!"**

"Ouch…" DS Volt grunted as he got up, his armor dented in the areas DS Anonymous hit, "Not bad…but right now…Grey Fire ZERO!"

He held his Dramon Killers in front of him and aimed at DS Anonymous, the armor glowing a soft crimson before firing a massive plume of flame. DS Anonymous sliced through the flames, but received a kick to the face and then a punch to the solar plexus. DS Volt jumped back and stabbed the ground with his Dramon Killers. The arena began to shake before pillars of lava roared from the ground, forming a sphere of lava over DS Volt.

"Gaia Force ZERO!" DS Volt roared as he threw it at DS Anonymous.

"Oh crud…" DS Anonymous paled before the attack collided, creating a large explosion.

**"I feel sorry for the guys who have to clean up after the battles…" Trill said, earning nods of respect from the Mettau.**

"And now for the finale…" DS Volt grinned as he held his hands up, the sound of thunder booming in the heavens. Lightning roared within the clouds before multiple giant blasts of lightning roared down and at DS Volt. His eyes began to glow as the lightning stopped, fusing together to form a giant sphere of lightning.

"Raiden Force ZERO!" DS Volt roared as he swung the sphere, "Taste the force of one hundred billion volts!"

**"Anonymous!" Key cried out in fear…until the sphere was suddenly sliced in two.**

"Wh…What?" DS Volt gasped when DS Anonymous appeared before him and delivered a powerful kick into the ground, breaking it a bit.

"Not bad, Volt, not bad," DS Anonymous applauded as he landed before the slowly rising DS Volt, "But now we should end this."

Before DS Volt could even blink, DS Anonymous had already lunged at him and clipped a large hung of armor off his left arm with his cleaver along with getting to something else. Everyone's eyes widened when they saw a bit of blood emerge from the wound as DS Volt lost WarGreymon X-Soul.

"YOW!" Volt cried as he quickly backed away with AreaSteal and launched a lance made of lightning at DS Anonymous. A moment later, the lance tore straight through DS Anonymous' chest, leaving a gaping hole where his heart was. "Oh my god! What have I done!" he cried as DS Anonymous fell to his knees as electricity arced through his body.

"**Anonymous!" Key cried, seeing through the hole in his chest from where fshe sat, her hands going to her mouth in a silent whisper.**

"**Somebody do something!" Roll cried worriedly.**

"**We're on break," the head Mettau said, smoking a cigar as he read the Sports Section of the newspaper while his men were playing charades.**

The next moment a low chuckle escaped DS Anonymous' lips, then grew into full-blown laughter as he rose to his feet, seemingly ignoring the hole through his chest. "Well well young Volt. Who would've thought you'd have it in you to go for the _kill _from step one?"

"Wait, aren't you hurt or anything?" Volt asked. "You have a _hole _through your _chest_!"

The next moment, to everyone's shock, the hole on his chest began to mesh shut, DS Anonymous grinning as he twirled his razor on his finger in the same way one would twirl a cane.

"In this form, my body's practically immortal," DS Anonymous replied curtly. "You won't have to worry about _me_ one _bit_."

"**What did he just say?" Trill cried.**

"I just said in this form my body's practically immortal!" DS Anonymous shouted into the stands, answering Trill's question. "God, does nobody around here listen to a thing anyone says?"

"No way… How can a Double Soul be so powerful?" Volt asked himself as he took a step back from his opponent, "I've seen Crosses, Multi-Souls, Multi-Noises, and Xroses with that kind of power, but never with a single Double Soul."

**"Crosses? Multi-Souls? Multi-Noises? Xroses? Just what kind of power has this guy seen?" Megaman pondered.**

**"Perhaps he may tell if we..." Glyde began.**

"No I will not!" Volt barked, "I'll tell when I wanna tell!"

**"Nevermind," Glyde sweatdropped.**

"One could ask the same about _yours_," DS Anonymous said flatly as he tilted his head to the said. "But, I grow weary of this, and I'm just going to end this match if you don't mind."

"Gyah!" Volt cried as he turned around and started to run in the opposite direction, only to find DS Anonymous right in front of him, his arm swung back to deliver the finishing blow.

"Hissatsu: Great Kabuto…CUTTER!" DS Anonymous shouted as he sliced straight through Volt's stomach all the way through his back with one mighty swing of his cleaver.

"I… lost…" Volt said to himself as everything turned black.

* * *

_Where am I? Am I dead? Anonymous sliced me in two, so that must be it. Damn…Uncle Valor is going to kill me for making May-chan cry because of this…_

"Is he going to be okay?" a worried voice asked from beyond the darkness.

"Well he hasn't been deleted yet, so I think he'll be fine," another voice said.

"You didn't have to cut in _half_, you know," another replied.

"Hey, if he didn't want to get cut in half, he shouldn't have been standing in the way of my cleaver," an angry-sounding voice said.

"What kind of excuse is that?" a polite-sounding voice asked.

"The same kind of excuse that a person who doesn't wear sunscreen makes when they get sunburned at the beach," the angry-sounding voice replied.

_That one was definitely Anonymous, _Volt thought to himself. _Wait, I'm not dead? Oh, then that just means I have to open my eyes._

The next moment Volt pulled himself upright, his stomach covered in bandages and in a brace, but overall he was still alive. He couldn't help but give a small smile as he saw Megaman and Roll had relieved looks on their faces.

"Thank goodness he's awake," Roll sighed. "Anonymous, you seriously could've killed him!" she said glaring at him.

Anonymous just huffed from where he was standing. "Hey, if the kid didn't want to get hurt, he shouldn't have challenged me to that NetBattle in the first place."

"How could he have known you could to Double Soul?" Roll asked angrily. "Give us a little warning next time you're about to pull something like that."

Anonymous just rolled his eyes casually. "I don't believe I'm actually_obligated_to tell you my every move, now am I."

"Um, that may actually be true, but-" Glyde stated.

"And now this issue has been resolved," Anonymous interrupted simply as he turned to leave. "I bid you all, adieu."

"There you are!" a voice said from atop the stands. "I've finally found you!" he said as he leapt down between Anonymous and the exit, revealing himself to be ProtoMan.

"ProtoMan? What're _you _doing here?" MegaMan asked.

"I should be asking _him _that," ProtoMan said accusingly as he pointed a finger straight at Anonymous.

Said NetNavi simply responded by walking towards the exit, pushing the finger and ProtoMan out of the way, then stopped after a few steps. "If I remember correctly, this is a public place correct? As long as I get past NetCity security, I have just as much a right to be here as any other NetNavi."

"Yes, except you _aren't _any other NetNavi," ProtoMan stated. "You're a total rogue with no record to you, and I have reason to believe that you and your NetOp are operating outside of the law."

"On what grounds do you press these charges?" Anonymous asked. "Is it because you have concrete evidence, or… are you simply trying to eliminate me because my power terrifies you?"

"Terrified? Of you? Ha!" ProtoMan laughed as he drew his sword and pointed it straight at Anonymous. "You may've gotten the best of me the first time we've met, but now I'm ready for your tricks. I can take you on any time, any place."

"_Really_?" Anonymous asked sarcastically. "Then how about here and now?"

* * *

**Suddenly, out of nowhere, ProtoMan appears to challenge the mysterious enigma, Anonymous. How will things turn out? What will be the result of their confrontation? Will the arena need more repairs? Lastly, how does Volt possess Double Soul, and does his name sound familiar?**

**Find out next time, on Naruto EXE: Subspace.**

* * *

**Omake:  
Setting: NME Secret Bunker (Med Lab and Hallway)**

**As Jonny walked past the medical bay, afraid that Onii-San's condition had worsened any, he caught Serenity's voice from the other side of the door.**

"**The test results have come in, sir," Serenity stated.**

"**Go ahead. I can take it," Onii-San said. "What are the results?"**

_**Oh no. This doesn't sound good, **_**Jonny thought berating himself. **_**If I had just let him join in from the beginning, instead of being stubborn and saying he couldn't help, things probably would've gone a lot smoother.**_

**At that moment Amber walked by. She was now wearing a purple long-sleeved jacket with a raised collar, a white blouse under it, a purple skirt that went down to just above the knees, and purple boots with white studs on them. Her hair was styled loosely, lying where it may. That would become her **_**usual outfit **_**from this point forward. It was certainly better then the medical gown she'd been wearing up to a week ago or so.**

"**Hey bro. How's it goin'?" she asked with a smile.**

"**Shhhh," Jonny **_**shhhed.**_**"Onii-San's test results have come in."**

_**Why does everyone **_**call **_**him that anyway? **_**Amber asked herself as she put her ear to the door.**

"**There was a lot of blood sir," Serenity said. "There's no other way around it-"**

"**Oh no. What've I done," Jonny said to himself before-**

"**We're going to have to cut it off," Serenity concluded.**

"**Very well then. Begin the procedure," Onii-San ordered, seemingly unfazed by Serenity's words, the sound of a body being laid down being heard, though only slightly.**

"**Waaaaait!" Jonny cried as he kicked down the door and fell to his knees. "Onii-San I'm so sorry! If I hadn't been so stubborn in the beginning, then you wouldn't have been injured like this!"**

"**Um. Jonny-" Onii-San piped in.**

"**I knew going in with only the ninja kid was dangerous, but I insisted on going in without your help anyway!" Jonny continued.**

"**Jonny-" Serenity tried saying, but-**

"**And now because of me, you're getting an amputation! Waaaaaahhhhh!" Jonny cried as he wept into the floor in shame of his actions.**

"**Uh, bro, I think you misunderstood," Amber said, poking her brother's shoulder.**

**Jonny looked up and his jaw dropped. Instead of being on an operating table like he thought when he heard the words, "cut it off", he was instead in a chair wearing a black apron. In Serenity's hands were a pair of scissors, and Onii-San's hair, instead of its dark brown color, was now a darkened shade of red.**

"**Why's he about to get a haircut?" Amber asked, ignoring her brother's incoherent babbling.**

"**His naturally-thick hair caught too much blood during that **_**travesty **_**of a rescue mission," Serenity replied, letting the implied message carry across, "and the only way to get the rest of it out of his hair is to cut some of it off."**

**Jonny's jaw was still dropped, having thought he'd made a horrible mistake, but this recent revelation had made everything right for him. "Well then, I'll uh… get going."**

"**Hold it," Serenity said, stopping him in his tracks as she readjusted her glasses.**

**Jonny turned around warily, Serenity pointing to the doorway. He turned toward it slowly, his heart nearly stopping flat when he saw he had knocked the sliding door out of its bearings.**

"**You're going to have to replace and repair those sliding doors," Serenity concluded readjusting her glasses. "Those things are expensive too, so in the future try not to do it again."**

**Jonny began to cry anime-style at the prospect of him having to replace **_**and **_**repair the expensive sliding doors.**

"**Where do you even get the money for sliding steel doors like those in the first place?" Serenity asked.**


	7. NetNavi Royale in Net City: PT 3, Sorta

After a brief confrontation between the NetPolice top NetNavi ProtoMan, and the mysterious rouge enigma Anonymous, the two fighters stood across each other in the middle of the battlefield. As word spread of ProtoMan facing against an unknown NetBattling prodigy, the seats in the arena started to fill rapidly.

At this very moment, ProtoMan and Anonymous stared each other down, their NetBattle being delayed to give spectators enough time to gather for this rare event.

"**Due to the incoming requests to watch this match, the World NetBattle Association kindly asks that the two of you hold off on any fighting for at least five more minutes," **the RefereeProg announced. **"Can we count on you to wait?"**

"Pheh. I'm not in any rush to kick this guy's pompous ass," Anonymous replied flatly as he leaned back against a non-existent wall, much to the confusion and awe of several there, as his center of gravity was _way _off at that given time.

* * *

Back in the stands, MegaMan, Roll, GutsMan, Glyde, NumberMan, Trill, and Volt all sat together, while SamuraiMan, Roulette, Seraph, and Amy sat on the other side of the battle field. Sonic -who had gotten tired of being cooped up in Lan's basement- and LigerMan had somehow ended up sitting next to each other, and since they hadn't killed each other yet, I guess things were doing okay on that point.

"Bro, do you think Anonymous will be okay?" Roulette asked. "I've been doing some catching up lately, and I've seen ProtoMan's battle record. He's nearly undefeated in every aspect of specs and parameter."

"Well sister, you will see that Anonymous is nearly undefeated in every aspect of specs and parameter too," SamuraiMan countered.

"Seraph. Will Annyki be okay?" Amy asked.

The angelic NetNavi simply smiled and nodded her head. "Yes little one. He'll be just fine," she said as she mussed up her hair playfully. "You've got nothing to worry about. After all, he isn't the kind of guy who'd leave his little sister alone."

"Don't mess up my hair," Amy moaned as she straightened it back into place. "Only Anny can do that."

"Of course," Seraph replied.

"Man, this crowd is really starting to build up," Sonic said as he looked around. "I wonder why no one came around for _my _match."

"Because you're nothing more then an over-glorified blue rat," LigerMan replied bluntly.

"Why don't you try saying that to my face tough guy!" Sonic growled as he brought out Caliburn.

"Why is ProtoMan challenging Anonymous out of the blue like this?" Roll asked.

"ProtoMan is a very proud NetNavi, and I guess he just has something to prove," MegaMan answered.

"But still, was it not _Anonymous _who challenged ProtoMan in the first place?" Glyde asked.

"I think it was more ProtoMan because he pointed his sword at Anonymous first," Trill said. "Come to think of it, how come he looks so much more human than the rest of us?"

"I heard it's because he can't stand these spandex jump suits," Volt said, still recovering from his last match.

At that moment, everyone saw that nearly every navi –and by that I mean _every _navi- was wearing spandex and sighed heavily.

"I guess he's got the right idea in that regard," they all said simultaneously.

* * *

Back down in the arena, the five minutes had passed, and the rambling of the NetNavis began to fill the air as the tension reached its peak.

"**Okay you two, I want a fair, clean fight," **the RefereeProg stated as he flew down from the referee booth. **"Got it? Okay! Battle Mode Set!" **he announced as the outline of a barrier rose over the battlefield. **"Ready?" **he asked as the barrier intensified for a moment. **"EXECUTE!"**

ProtoMan wasted no time and drew his sword, then rushed at Anonymous with a wide horizontal swing. At the last moment, Anonymous fell back on his heels and onto his back, ProtoMan's blade and he himself flying harmlessly overhead before he pulled a Michael Jackson and somehow resumed standing position without using his hands or arms.

ProtoMan quickly regained his footing and spun around, only to meet a flash of light, blinding Anonymous from view for a brief moment from practically everyone. When the light cleared, ProtoMan's jaw dropped when he was greeted by the sight of a large, red carnival-grade ball pit filled with rainbow balls of all things. "What the hell?"

"Banzai!" Anonymous cried as he leapt through the netting foot-first and landed into the pit of balls, a good couple dozen leaping into the air before resettling over him.

"Hey, get out of that thing and fight me like a man!" ProtoMan demanded angrily, shaking his fist at the multi-colored monstrosity before him.

"Make me!" Anonymous retorted as he poked his head out from the center of the ball pit before dropping back down.

"Don't make me rip you out of there!" ProtoMan cried as he shook his fist as his opponent.

"You can try, but you'll never catch me," Anonymous said as he poked his head up from the back right corner of the ball pit, confusing a few _particular _spectators as to how he moved from the center to the corner without disturbing the multi-colored balls surrounding him.

"Alright! You asked for it!" ProtoMan demanded as he readied his blade and leapt into the ball pit -Anonymous dropping below the balls as his opponent lunged at him-, slicing through several dozen balls, but finding no opponent.

"Bazinga," Anonymous _bazinga'd _from another corner before dropping back down into the ball pit.

"You're not getting away!"

"Bazinga."

"Show yourself you coward!"

"Bazinga."

"Damn you!"

"Bazinga."

"You dick!"

"Bazinga."

"Get back here!"

At that point Anonymous stuck his head out of the ball pit and simply stared at ProtoMan as he was glared back at.

"I had assumed that the _bazinga _was im_plied_," Anonymous stated evenly -which was hard to do when the guy was up to his armpits in multi-colored carnival balls- before he ducked back into the ball pit.

"That's it! I've had enough of this!" ProtoMan cried as he threw his arms up into the air. "SonicBoom!" he cried as he slashed his sword out into the ball pit, scattering ball halves in every direction.

"**Pheh. I could make a better sonic boom in my **_**sleep**_**," Sonic huffed with his arms crossed.**

As ProtoMan continued to slash out in the ball pit wildly, an odd humming sound could be heard from across the field. When everyone's attention turned, to their shock -for lack of a better term-, they saw that Anonymous was now sitting in a black leather massage chair while drinking a soda, outside of the ball pit.

"**How'd he get out of the ball pit without anyone seeing?" Iris asked.**

**The others shrugged. "No idea," they responded.**

**"I think the real question is," Phoenix stated, "where can _I _get one of those?"**

After a minute more, ProtoMan realized that Anonymous was no longer in the ball pit and leapt out, readying his blade to slice at Anonymous. However, a moment before the blade made impact, a joystick rose out of the left armrest on Anonymous' chair, and he suddenly veered backwards and out of the way of the blade.

"Yaaaaaawn," Anonymous yawned as the now-wheeled massage chair continued to move backwards, just out of reach of ProtoMan's sword. "Could you be any slower?"

"Take this fight seriously!" ProtoMan roared as he swung his blade in an overhead arc, only for the chair to veer to the right.

"I _am _taking this seriously," Anonymous said. "Do you know how much _thumb_ I'm using to move this joystick right now?" he added as he wiggled his left thumb at him.

"RRRRRAGH!" ProtoMan roared as he brought his sword back for the swing. "DeltaRay!" he called out as he swung his sword out at Anonymous, only for him to hit a button that caused the seat cushion he was sitting on to push out on a spring, sending him flying away from the chair before it was sliced to ribbons.

"So you really wanna fight me that badly huh?" Anonymous said as he brought out a Giga Chip from his pocket before twirling it on his finger. "Well you've got one!" he roared as he slammed it into the ground. "MECHANIZED EARTH GUARD ATTACK SYSTEM!"

Suddenly, a massive red, blue, silver, and black ray of light burst through the heavens out of the ground below Anonymous. ProtoMan readied his sword, awaiting the real battle to begin, only for his expectations to fall short as Anonymous was now sitting in what appeared to be a cherry red hot rod convertable.

**"That's his trump card?" MegaMan asked dumbfoundedly.**

**"I thought I could never get surprised, where _he's _concerned, but he just found another way to do it," Volt added.**

At that point, ProtoMan thought he'd hit the lowest point in his warranty when his opponent decided to jump into a car in the middle of a fight. "What's he going to do? Hit me with it?"

However, that statement was short-lived as Anonymous' face became the living personification –or in his case digitalization- of focus and seriousness as he pressed a button on the control panel of his car, which oddly enough was riddled with various video game controllers. Even some that weren't in circulation anymore.

As ProtoMan readied his sword, waiting for some kind of superweapon to come out and attack him, he suddenly found himself facepalming himself as the car's sun roof began to fold over Anonymous' head.

"Damn you! I'll kill you for this insult!" ProtoMan roared as he rushed at Anonymous, the car's sun roof rising slowly over him.

"RAAAAAAAAA-"

Wrrrrrrrrr

"AAAAAAAA-"

Rrrrrrrr

"AAAA-"

Rrrr

**_Author's Note:  
Just in case you didn't notice, this is the part where it keeps alternating between two actions/noises before coming to the climax._**

"AAA-"

Rrr

"AA-"

Rr

"A-"

R

"A!"

**"Hey guys. What'd I miss?" Naruto asked -having just gotten in from taking pics- as he sat himself down next to MegaMan, Roll, and Trill. "So who's the kid?"**

The next moment, an eight-story tall giant robot with blue paint and yellow flames, grey and black hands and feet with a flaming 8-ball on one arm with a flaming eyeball on the other, and massive mufflers back rose up from the ground just before ProtoMan could cut Anonymous, said giant robot's rising from the ground scraping the crap out of his face as the car now sat parked on the giant robot's shoulders.

**"Did Anonymous…" MegaMan began.**

**"Just summon…" Roll said.**

**"A giant robot?" Trill asked.**

**"Of _course _Anonymous just summoned a giant robot!" Naruto argued angrily as he pointed at the eight story tall metal monstrosity. "It's standing right there!"**

"What the hell?" ProtoMan muttered as NetCity's artificial sun glared off of the hood of the cherry red hot rod that now served as the giant robot's head.

"Hey ProtoMan. You wanna know why I won't be losing with this big guy here?" Anonymous asked confidently. "Because I've got platinum hot chick silhouettes on my mudflaps."

At that moment everyone turned to the giant robot's heels and saw that there were in fact platinum hot chick silhouettes.

**"Damn," GutsMan said, only for Glyde to smack him over the head.**

**"Woah," Volt said in awe, only for Trill to smack him over the head.**

**"Holy cow," MegaMan said, only for Roll to smack him over the head.**

**" . . . " Naruto _didn't _say, only for Key to smack him over the head, where at that point he just glared at her. "What the heck was that for? I didn't say a thing."**

**"Sorry. I responded to the pattern," Key apologized.**

**"Next time I'll just say the vulgar comment and at least get smacked over the had for the right reason," Naruto grumbled to himself.**

Back down on the field, ProtoMan readied his sword and activated his Venier Thruster, sending himself into the air eye-level with Anonymus as he readied his sword, but putting some distance between him and his foe so he had more elbow room. "That thing may be big, but I bet it can't wield a sword like_ I_ can."

"You're right. It can't," Anonymous said as his giant robot slammed its palms together, then separated them and brought out a giant flaming sword. "It can wield one even _better _then you can."

ProtoMan just fumed as he narrowed his eyes at his opponent.

"Oh, ProtoMan, one more thing," Anonymous stated.

"Ugh! What now?" ProtoMan demanded.

At that moment, Anonymous cleared his throat with a few coughs, then after a few seconds, he spoke up.

"Alright listen up you pompous, sword-wielding, angsty white-haired fifty-foot-pole-up-your-ass prick!" Anonymous shouted, mortifying several navis with his language. "You pick a fight with me! Slice up my ball pit! _Ruin _a perfectly good massage chair! And now you think you can take me down because you can fly? Well I've got one thing to say! I'M GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS SO HARD, YOU WON'T EVEN KNOW WHEN YOUR WARANTY EXPIRES!"

**"Weren't half of those things _Anonymous' _fault?" Trill asked. "Or, you know, _all _of them?"**

**"I have no idea what's going on here, but I think that's the _point_," Naruto said back. "But, seriously, what the heck's been going on while I was out getting pictures?"**

The moment Anonymous' -possibly ridiculous- speech was concluded, ProtoMan charged at the metal monstrosity, his Venier Thruster blazing behind him as Anonymous drove his giant robot forward, massive footsteps that shook the city closing the distance within seconds.

At that moment, everyone was expecting a sword duel of epic proportion, only for Anonymous to smack ProtoMan aside with the flat of his giant robot's giant flaming blade, sending him flying off into the distance, nothing more then a red gleam in the distance.

"I'd call that a win," Anonymous said as the giant robot sunk back into the ground, the cherry red hot rod disappearing before transforming back into the M.E.G.A.S. Giga Chip, which he soon pocketed.

* * *

A few minutes after the match was concluded, and the crowd had begun to disperse, Anonymous had rejoined his clique, LigerMan, Sonic, and Glyde having left immediately after the match, Key walked up to Anonymous and congratulated him on the match.

"That was a great match Anonymous," Key said timidly. "Brief, but still great."

"Well, thanks, I guess," Anonymous replied, hiding the slight blush on his cheeks by pulling up the cowl of his hood.

"Is Anonymous actually em_barrased_?" MegaMan asked jokingly.

"Awww, look at him getting such a sappy compliment, guts," GutsMan added.

At that moment, the group slowly dissolved into laughter, if not for Anonymous' display of emotion, then simply for no reason at all, and merely for the sake of laughing.

Then, at that moment, to interrupt the good mood, an ominous booming sound echoed from the distance, causing everyone to look up. Then, as suddenly as they had appeared and disappeared the_ first_ time, the ominous blood red clouds that had once plagued NetCity before appeared once again, devouring the sky and bathing everything in eerie shadow.

"To see you all laughing about something so trivial," a voice dryly spoke out to everyone, a feeling of dread washing through the air. "It_ truly_ makes me ill."

"Who's there?" Anonymous demanded as he looked to the center of the field, a mysterious individual nothing more then a silhouette as the voice's owner walked out of an ornate door, with shortly dissolved into Shadow Bugs and blew away.

**To be continued...**

**

* * *

**

**Well, Anonymous has finished hazing the shit out of ProtoMan, but now a dry (and potentially evil) voice addresses everyone there. Just who is it's owner, and what is their intent? And what does it mean for everyone?**

**You'll have to find out these answers, next time on, Naruto EXE: Subspace.**


	8. Arma Geddeon Appears

**Hellooo faithful readers! Sorry for the **_**overly long **_**wait, but there was a... situation, with the person who I've been writing this chapter with. So sorry for the delay after so long.**

**But hey, in anticipation of this happening, I set up the next chapter in advance, so I hope you enjoy this and the next chapter.**

**Now, to begin the story where we left off...**

* * *

As the ornate-looking door blew away, the source of the dry-sounding voice stepped out, his very presence filling the area with a sense of dread, accompanied by the blood red clouds that quickly consumed the sky, bathing everything in a dim, red light.

The figure himself was about 6'2, with pale brown hair jutting out in every direction, four bangs sticking up above his left eye, which had a black double-stringed medical eye patch over it, his visible eye a pale shade of brown. He wore a white dress shirt, blue jeans, black shoes, and had a black dress jacket draped over his shoulders, secured by two silver chains. On the back of his waist, he had a katana in a black sheath.

"Answer me. Who are you?" Anonymous repeated. _I'm not liking the way this guy suddenly appears at the same time these clouds do. It's pretty safe to assume that these are all connected._

At that point, the unknown individual simply stared at Anonymous, distaste evident on how he looked at him. "So… _you're _his personal lapdog? How absolutely pathetic."

"Excuse me?" Anonymous said, left eyebrow twitching.

At that moment, the individual drew his blade, then, in a flash, appeared before Anonymous, his blade poised at his throat, much to the former's shock.

"Onii-San, as you are called… come out, or I'll delete your... _NetNavi_... right now," the individual replied curtly as he pointed the blade at Anonymous' throat, treating the word 'NetNavi' as though it were some alien term. The group of NetNavis was astonished by the instantaneous step the figure took and how his long blade was securely inched from the former's neck.

A moment later, a holographic screen with Anonymous' likeness on it emerged. At the moment, he was wearing a hood and sitting in a darkened room, his features remaining obscured except for his green eyes that seemed to shine through the darkness and the lower half of his face. Undoutedly though, this was Onii-San.

_"I'm here. So who are you? What do you want?" _the enigma asked.

"As if you don't know who I am," the individual said darkly. "After what you've done to me, you should know _**damn **_well who I am!"

_"Really? Well then remind me," _Onii-San stated crossing his arms. _"_I'm _pretty sure I never saw you until just _now_._"

The brunette figure looked offended for a second, but shrugged it off. _I'm not surprised… in honesty. After all…, _he trailed mentally, before smirking.

"Seraph, take Amy and Roulette out of here," Anonymous ordered, even with individual's blade still poised at his throat. "SamuraiMan, keep your swords ready."

"Yes sir," Seraph replied as she quickly grabbed the back of Amy and Roulette's collars before dragging them away, much to their protests.

"Volt, you get out of here too. You're in no shape to fight someone on this guy's level," Anonymous ordered. _There's something wrong with this guy. Like he's crooked all the way down to his heart. Why he's coming after me though... _he trailed off to all the "mercy killings" he'd performed over the years. _Okay so maybe I _have _done a few things to warrant someone trying to kill me. Doesn't mean I'll take it lying down._

" . . . Right," Volt replied as he took a few steps back, but feeling as though something wasn't right here. It was almost like he'd seen this happen before. Long before a certain blond fell into Onii-San's office. A moment later he jacked out, but not liking this in the least.

"Letting the child leave? How oddly… _charitable_of you," the individual hissed, only for Anonymous to draw a grey-bladed straight-edged katana, the handle black with gold trim and pink plum flower-shaped decorations on it. "Do you think such a weapon can do harm against me?" the eye patch-wearing male seethed mockingly as he held the blade back against his own.

"Well I won't know 'til I try now will I?" Anonymous asked as he swung the blade to the side, pushing the opposing blade away before he went in for another strike, only for that one to be blocked instantly.

"Roll, take Trill and get out of here," MegaMan said as he drew his sword and leapt at the mystery brunette, only to have his blade blocked as well. "Anonymous and I will hold him off here," he said as the brunette leapt back, Anonymous slashing at him before leaping away and letting MegaMan get a shot in.

"Okay . . . Be careful," Roll said as she took Trill out of the area.

"Iris, Key, Karat, Phoenix. Colonel told me to keep you safe until he got back, so I need you four to leave as well," Naruto said as he drew his Muramasa and Z-Saver. "MegaMan, GutsMan, Anonymous, SamuraiMan, and I will take things from here until reinforcements arrive."

"No Naruto. I'm staying," Iris responded. "I'm tired of sitting on the sidelines while everyone else is fighting! I'm joining this battle too!" she said strongly as she former her Butterfly Buzzsaws in her hands.

"But-"

"Kid, ain't it a man's responsibility to help a lady out when she has something she wants to do?" Phoenix asked casually as she threw an arm over his shoulder, catching Naruto off guard.

"Don't worry about us. You worry about yourself out there, and _we'll _worry about each other," Key said as she drew her KeyBlade, Karat drawing her KaratWhip while Phoenix's fists and feet ignited. "After all, we're sisters. It's what we do."

Naruto just sighed as he looked at his opponent, who at the moment was holding off MegaMan, Anonymous, and GutsMan all at once like they were total pushovers. "Fine. But if things get too tough, you need to get out of here."

"Got it," the four sisters said as Naruto leapt into the fray.

"Let's _do _this! Burning Axel!" Phoenix roared as she outstretched her limbs into an X formation and cart wheeled towards the human-like figure in a dress shirt, a blazing rim of fire forming over her like frame a massive flaming chakram as she careened towards him while GutsMan rushed him from the side.

"What the-?" her target gawked before instinctively grabbing onto GutsMan's shoulder and threw him towards the cart wheeling female, causing them to hit dead-on and send the latter for a loop.

"Sister!" Iris, Key, and Karat screamed as Phoenix was sent into the arena wall, a crater forming before she slumped to the ground.

Enraged, Key and Karat charged at the male, -all the while Protoman was trying to land a hit on the mystery male after suddenly getting back and wanting a rematch with Anonymous, only to find out that they had bigger problems, so he changed his objective- only for said male to anticipate the attack and slash deeply into ProtoMan across the stomach, causing him to log out before he slammed the butt of his sword into Key's stomach so hard she was sent flying through, crashing into the bleachers on the other side of the arena a few seconds later.

"No!" Iris screamed before freezing in place as the male turned his vision towards her. At that moment, time had stopped and the area only seemed like only she and the boy were the only ones there. His single eye affixed to her glossy green orbs, which shrank from the death stare she was receiving.

_This feeling…! _she gasped. _It's like staring into the eyes of Death himself…!_

A moment later he disappeared from view, and Iris immediately got on the defensive.

"A weakling like you doesn't deserve to be on the battlefield," the individual said coldly from behind her right shoulder, standing casually with his sword trained towards the ground.

Iris' eyes widenend as the eyepatch-wearing teen brought his katana down toward her neck. Out of reflex, she closed her eyes awaiting the eventual pain that would hit her. After a few seconds, she opened one eye, the sword a hair's width from her neck. However, the blade had still cut through her hair down to her neck, leaving it dissymmetrical.

As everyone sighed a silent sigh of relief, the teen spoke to Iris once more.

"Count yourself fortunate that you aren't _worth _killing," he stated coldly as he leapt away a good distance. "To kill someone as weak as you would mar my name and honor."

"N-N-No... I-I can... still fight..." Iris argued weakly, her legs shaking wildly even as she did so. A moment later a green blade came at him from the side, forcing him to leap away and stay his blade. A moment later she felt a hand on her shoulder, and when she turned around, Naruto nodded 'no' to her, a confused look on her face.

"Stay back. We'll take care of him. If you're not up to it, get Phoenix and log out. Reinforcements will probably arrive soon," Naruto said soothingly to the butterfly-barrette girl.

Iris smiled. "You all better come back in one piece. You hear?"

"Yeah, or your brother will kill me," he replied jokingly.

_"Don't count me out just yet," _Key said to Iris over the comm. before she kicked a chair aside. "I can still fight. Just need to take a breather is all," she said as her KeyBlade glowed, a sword-like blade made of light forming over it.

Iris looked hesitant, but heard the authoritative tone in her sister's voice, so she darted towards her other fallen sister and logged out leaving MegaMan, ProtoMan, GutsMan, SamuraiMan, Anonymous, Key-should she be able to get back into the fight-, and Naruto to deal with strangely dressed male, who was effortlessly dodging all four of the other Navi's attacks with minimal effort; his movements were a strangely deadly mix of violent swings, stabs, and graceful blocks.

_Strangely dressed male… no NaviMark… *gasp*! Don't tell me… _MegaMan thought to himself.

"You!" Anonymous yelled as he rammed swords with the mystery male. "Who and _who _are you? What'd I ever do to you?"

The male scoffed and slapped Anonymous' cheek in disgust earning some shocked looks from the surroundings.

"My name is not 'you', you hapless twit. It's _Arma_. Arma… Geddon. Got it, shit-for-brains?" the newly revealed Arma spat distastefully. "And just for the record it isn't you I'm _really _after, but that piece-of-shit '_NetOp' _of yours, sitting on his high chair while others do the fighting for him," he added slapping Anonymous across the face as he suddenly appeared in front of him.

At the hit, Anonymous clutched his raw cheek lightly, then smirked a bit, earning an odd look from Arma. "Heh. So you _can _hit someone hard. And here I was afraid you'd be hiding behind your sword. If I were a real human… that one meager slap could've dislocated my jaw. _Oh, well,_" he jeered before ramming into Arma full-force with his shoulder, a pained expression as the wind was knocked out of the eye patch wearing male with a tattoo for an eyebrow.

"Guys! Do pile! _Now_!" Anonymous shouted.

"Dog _what_?" Arma gaped as Megaman, Protoman, Gutsman and, SamuraiMan, Anonymous, and Naruto all ran from five different directions at high speed and jumped onto him, trying to pin him down as they screamed 'DOOOG PIIILE!'.

"We got him, guts!" GutsMan cheered, only to feel himself being lifted from the ground a moment ltater.

"Hands off the merchandise!" Arma yelled as he managed to kick off Anonymous in the stomach, robbing him of his breath, and, in a surprising motion, kicked off the ground at a 15 degree angle so that it looked like he warped out of the spot.

With no time to stop, all five males, in mid-jump crashed into each other–Gutsman's arm, having caught Anonymous in mid-flight– into a dump pile of their own; Naruto and Anonymous on the bottom with a flailing limb sticking out each.

Skidding backwards from the previous move, Arma regained his composure and winced at the sight before them. "-hissssss- _That's _gonna leave a mark."

"RRRRRRRRRRRRGH!" came a muffled voice. Anonymous and Naruto instantly threw the other four off of them like dummies. "GET OFFA ME!" they both roared as they dynamically performed a flying uppercut.

Naruto was holding his neck and panting, while Anonyous merely breathed in and out hysterically. Arma simply looked fish-faced drooped eyes theatrics, barely saying a audible. "Uhhhhh…"

"Oh my _God! _I thought I was gonna **die **down there!" Naruto gasped.

Anonymous eyed over to the ninja. "What, you mean GutsMan's ass?"

A 'DUH-DUUUUUUN' noise played in the blonde's head, and eyed Anonymous scornfully. "You _had _to say it, didn't you…?"

Arma, dumbfounded, simply perched his sword over his shoulder. "If this is you all taking this seriously… then I'm severely disappointed. It looks like our plans will forward faster than planned."

"What plans? Are you the one behind this SubSpace business?" Anonymous asked dangerously. Arma simply eyed the former darkly.

"That's something you don't need to know," the eye patch-wearing teen responded.

"_**WRONG ANSWER**_!" Anonymous roared as he charged at the white dress-shirt wearing man, only for him to step-side the uncanny human-esque NetNavi, surprising him as he caught his blade yet again.

"As I said," Arma remarked coldly before slicing Anonymous across the back, releasing a steady line of data. "_Disappointing,_" he said before backhanding him to the floor. The next moment he raised his sword, then, before his opponent could recover, he drove it straight down.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Anonymous screamed as the sword went through his back and into the ground, pinning him as flakes of data began to leak out.

"Anonymous!" Megaman and Naruto cried as their comrade cried out in pain. "Damn it! When are reinforcements going to arrive?" the blond cursed.

"You _just _don't **get it**, do you? Your reinforcements will never arrive… unless that is they want to be killed in an _instant_," Arma stated dryly with a crazed look in his eye.

"_What does that mean_?" Chaud roared over the comm link. Arma squinted his eyes at the boy.

"It means… if they even dent the barrier I set up around the stadium _however slightly_…then they all sign their own death warrants. In short, they'll die from the impact."

A look of horror washed over their faces. Arma took advantage of this. "And I can sense a sizable group of your allies marching in this direction, right to the funeral. _They're gonna learn the hard way… __**never to screw with Arma Geddon**_."

* * *

At the same time outside the barrier that had appeared around the arena when Arma had appeared, SearchMan, NapalmMan, Sonic, Samus, Snake, Pikachu, and Lucario outside the barrier, KnightMan on his way from CreamLand to back them up. In SearchMan's case he had a dedicated link set up to get him to NetCity when he needed to. KnightMan's... wide bandwidth, made his trips take a while longer.

"No good, I can't find any weak points on this barrier," the Sharo navi sighed as he continued to scope out the barrier from where he stood, as well as probing it with his satellite attacks in an attempt to find a chinkin the armor.

"It won't budge either," NapalmMan grunted as he continued to fire napalm bombs into the barrier at random spots trying to bring it down as he used his arm vulcans to try and punch a hole through it. "Nothing seems to be working right now," he said seeing that his vulcan was only causing small ripples to apppear.

"I'm trying to scan the composition of the barrier, but I can't analyze it with my current equipment. I'd need a new visor to do so, and this world's technology standard is a couple hundred years behind mine," Samus said as her visor continued to scan the wall, trying to pierce the veil of mystery that surrounded. "Lucario, please tell me you've found something to help," she sighed as she turned to the Anubis-like poke'mon, his eyes glowing blue and his braids clicking against the air as he continued to scan the barrier on his own.

"_Whatever it's made of, it certainly isn't data," _Lucario thought as he continued to turn his head from left to right. _"It seems almost… too real."_

"CHUUUUUU!" Pikachu cried as he tried to electrocute a hole in the wall, only for all his attacks to fail as well.

"Mortars and rockets are no good," Snake grunted after trying to get the wall to crack. He'd even tried C4, rockets, grenades, _and _mortars all at the same time on one spot, but so far nothing gave out.

"Wait, I think I've got something," SearchMan said as he peered through his SearchScope, finding a small fault in the barrier as he continued to scan it. "There seems to be a fissure in the barrier right around there. From what I'm able to tell, the faults in the rest of the barrier pass through this Soft Spot, which makes it so durable," he said using a laser sight to point it out. "However, I'm not sure how long it'll be in the same place. It looks like this barrier's strong and weak points are shifting constantly to prevent us from trying to get in."

Snake quickly ran over to the purple-colored glass-like wall and set as much C4 onto it as he could. "Fire in the hole!" he shouted as he vaulted over one of the large planters and hit the detonator, the five blocks of C5 creating a massive explosion and dust cloud. When it cleared however, the wall rippled for a few seconds before forming a glowing white crack. However, that crack slowly filling itself back in.

"You got the barrier to crack, but if we don't break this thing soon, the barrier may fortify itself again," SearchMan said as he kept his eye on the weak point.

"I think I may have something that can help," Sonic said as he pulled out what looked like a silver wristband and put it on his wrist. On a raised pedestal was what looked like a sun-shaped emblem made of gold and ruby.

"What's that?" Samus asked, scanning it with her visor, only to have it tell her **Unknown Composition**.

"That Onii-San guy gave this to me," Sonic said as he secured it on his wrist and flexed his gloved hand. "He said if I tap the emblem like... this-" he said as he tapped the emblem, the sun-shaped emblem flipping out of the pedestal like a coin before landing and revealing a silver and sapphire moon-shaped emblem. His sentence however was cut off as a purple flame suddenly appeared in front of his chest. "Oh boy..." Sonic said as his body was suddenly engulfed in the flame. As it whirled around him, his muscles bulged, his teeth turned to fangs, his quills grew more feral, and his features changed into a perpetual scowl. "Woah, he found a way to transform me into Werehog form, and it isn't even night time yet," he said as he looked up to the artificial sun over Net City.

"Well you better hurry up and do something with your _werehog _form before the weak point moves," Searchman said as he tried to get to the weakest point in the fissure and blast it with his sniper rifle, only to find that it kept shifting. He'd get a better aim if he were further back, but then again, he would only have the same problems, and he couldn't trace how it was shifting even _with _his precision-based abilities.

"Alright then, I'm going to try something, so stand back," Sonic ordered, the others standing back as he held his hands out in front of him.

He then brought his thumbs to his mouth and bit down on them before closing his lips around them. The next moment he began blowing, which looked weird at first, but then looked even weirder when his arms suddenly began to inflate like balloons.

_Bone Balloon…_Sonic thought as his inflated arms concentrated all of their air into his chest, which expanded proportionately. "Gomu Gomu no…"he called out as he stretched his arms far back behind him. "Gigant..." he continued as his expanded chest suddenly compressed, both his forearms expanding to massive proportions. "BAZOOKA!" he roared as he brought his enlarged palms down into the barrier. The next moment there was a large crack, and a large plate of it even broke away.

However, before they could try and get as many of themselves as they could through the hole…

"Uh…guys…"Samus paled as she looked up, the storm clouds forming over the arena acting par_tic_ularly violent at the moment.

A dark, booming voice echoed to the Smashers as a large red eyeball blocked their path, jeering. "_**Hahahahahahah… Congrats on busting my barrier. But this is one time… where the heroes… ARE THE ONES **_**BEING **_**BURIED SIX FEET UNDER!**_"

The next moment, the clouds above released massive bolts of white lightning, all of which struck down where they all stood with such devastating force, that the surrounding area apart from Mana's barrier began to rezz.

* * *

At the same time back in the arena, Anonymous and Onii-San –through the comm link- looked in horror as the location where the NetSaviors were was bombarded with white lightning.

"_No…!_" Lan gaped. Megaman and Naruto were at a loss for words. Gutsman, Dex, Iris, Chaud, Protoman, SamuraiMan and Jonny were all at a loss for words.

"…They're not dead," Arma said flatly with a frown on his face, a mixture of anger and disappointment in his voice as he lifted his sword out of Anonymous' back and leapt to the side so he wouldn't be caught off guard, the navi using a Recovery 300 to fix the damage.

The group was about to let out a sigh of relief when Naruto and Megaman felt a large roundhouse kick to the head, knocking them down harshly. The next moment, Arma's blade sliced lightly across their NaviMarks, earning howls of pain all around as they fell to their knees.

"Imagine what happens if I decide to end it all by stabbing you there. After all…" Arma began. A dark glint in eye appeared. "…I was sent to eliminate you two and Lan Hikari in particular. With _ex_treme prejudice. Although… killing anyone else _stupid_ enough to interfere are merely bonus points." At this point, Arma slowly trailed his hands to the bow tying the four strings securing his eye patch. "I'm the scourge of the strong. Not one foe has ever fought me and survived unscathed," he said as he pulled the strings. "Now, I will teach you why."

When Mana removed his eye patch, his eye then opened to reveal that it was bright red, almost glowing. It bore the shape of a pentacle with a horizontal infinity sign in the center. What was also noticed was that he had the words **NO FATE **tattooed over his eye, in the stead of an eyebrow.

The group of Navis and NetOps could only look in shock at the ungodly sight. "His eye…!" Chaud gasped.

"Is it even _human_?" Lan gaped at the sight.

Arma wagged a finger at the boy's visage, confusing him. "Oh, trust me. It's as human as it can get. I was born with this eye, after all. And speaking of which…"

The next moment, a black crackle of light circled from Mana's left eye, and Anonymous suddenly found himself trapped within a ten-by-ten-by-ten cubical prison, made out of what looked like light green translucent glass covered in geometric-looking tattoo-like markings on all sides. Like something out of the arcane.

"What the hell?" Anonymous said as he pounded his fist onto the wall of the prison he was now trapped in, only to find it didn't budge in the slightest. "What is this thing?" he demanded as he continued to pound on the prison enclosing him.

Arma turned to the caged bird, so to speak. "That, my loathsome friend, is one of my strongest spells. I call it… 'Spatial Magic: Independent Cube'. Once it fully forms and locks itself into place, any and all matter inside it is completely trapped in every ethical and unethical sense. There is, by all definitions, no way of escape into the outside world."

"That's bullshit!" Anonymous roared. "I'll give you credit that it could be a powerful spell, _however you found out how to pull off "magic" in the Cyber World,_ but it's composition and structure look flimsy at best! I mean, it's not like it's its own pocket world," he said dismissivly.

Arma frowned slightly, bending his neck forward before tilting his head up to reveal a dark grin. "Would it be better if I told you that this barrier surrounding you is its own pocket _dimension_, then?" he asked, causing Anonymous and the faraway Onii-San to adopt shocked expressions. The NetOp tried to jack his navi out of there, but it was unresponsive, and at the moment his navi's stats weren't being displayed on his PET. It was like he was being physically isolated in a separate server.

"Tell me, 'Onii-San'! Doesn't this power look familiar…? Are memories starting to resurface…?" the male asked raggedly, his dangling arms swishing in maddening glee as he rocked back and forth on his knees, Onii-San suddenly clutching his head as though he were in pain, his elbows falling to the desk.

_"MegaMan! Don't lose to this guy!" _Lan shouted through the comm. link.

"Right!" the blue bomber responded.

_"GutsMan! Kick his ass!" _Dex shouted.

"Guts! Guts!" the gargantuan navy roared

"You shall hold Anonymous-dono _no longer_!" Samurai growled as he rushed forward with his twin swords.

In addition, Naruto, Phoenix, and Iris nodded to one another as the two prior rushed forward, the latter using a Spreader chip and hanging back in case Arma managed to escape.

As GutsMan rushed forward and brought his right arm back, SamuraiMan was at his sides with his swords drawn, MegaMan, Naruto, and Phoenix taking to the sides and surrounding their opponent. GutsMan then swung his gargantuan fist at his head while SamuraiMan rushed in to slice his legs off. Through the gaps in the formation, MegaMan brought out a Long Blade and stabbed Mana through his right side, Phoenix bringing her BurnSword throug his stomach and out his right kidney, while Naruto slashed him across the back with his Muramasa. Moments later they heard clapping coming from the stands, their attention drawn to find that Mana was now lazily clapping with his legs propped up on a seat, while the thing they attacked simply vanished.

"Encore…!Encore…!" he applauded slowly as if to mock them. "Not bad for attempting to pincushion an _afterimage_, I guess," he trailed off, Gutsman fuming as the spandex-less male jumped down, surrounded by 'such adoring fans'.

"GRRRRR! This guy keeps making us look like first-rate chumps! He don't even have a scratch on him, guts guts!" Gutsman growled.

"What's the matter, _player_? Can't get with the _program_?" Arma jeered, making it obvious that his insult also was meant to be a 'player-hater' on NetNavis in general.

"Well, don't _you _know how to wear it thin, asshole!" Phoenix said through grit teeth.

"I can wear it better than any of you half-rate has-beens, toots. I mean, you all call _that_ swordplay? I've seen _newborns _with more dexterous promise in one finger than any of you in your whole digital _bodies_!" Arma laughed darkly. "Though in _your _case," he said turning to Naruto, "your mere existance is a _sin_," he cackled, the blond's eyes narrowing, as he'd left that part of himself behind. At the same time, Gutsman fumed again as he ran up behind Arma, ready to squash him with a GutsHammer, causing Arma to sigh at the so-called "dedication" the navi was displaying towards his friends.

"Well, class, what've we learned?" he said before grabbing his sword's hilt in his teeth, grabbed the swing-down in mid-swing, and threw Gutsman with minimal ease at Megaman and Samuraiman, knocking them down like bowling pins. "That's right, class…" Arma jeered as his removed his sword from his mouth, twirled it once and jabbed his hilt into Naruto's stomach as he and 2 clones attempted an ambush from behind, causing them to immediately disperse and Naruto to fall to the ground with a hole in his stomach. "I always win. No exceptions… unless you all wanna get _spanked_. Your pals on the outside learned the hard way how **unforgiving **I can really be."

Arma then sighed slightly, arching his body forward, eyes hidden from view. "Do you fools…" he trailed off as he shot back up and revealed his eyes, his left eye's pattern glowed red, and a circular glyph of the said pattern appeared underneath the feet of those charging him, spinning and locking in place. "…Not understand your own predicament? And yet you have the time to worry about _this _piece of trash?" he asked pointing to Anonymous, who was still beating on the cage walls. If you looked carefully enough, you could see flakes of data flying into the air, lingering for a few seconds before disappearing.

"The only thing that needs to be understood _here, _pal…" Naruto began as he and a running clone formed a Rasengan. "IS THAT YOU'RE GOING _DOWN_!" he growled as his stomach healed, the spiralling sphere headed towards its intended target. Megaman and Gutsman also roared a battle cry as they neared striking distance. Like the others, SamuraiMan – along with Iris and her sisters in tow – all charged Arma valiantly.

A valiance that would nearly cost them deletion.

Finally the hidden locked-in-place circle formed a complex glyph on the ground, in which Arma slowly screamed "**SISTERS OF HEAVEN'S CHOIR**!" which had forced back the group surrounding the brunette male with the force a American NFL football team sacking each Navi – and 1 trademark ninja – with equally devastating force.

* * *

At the same time inside the Independent Cube, Anonymous was beating at the walls non-stop as the others fought.

"Damn. Just pounding my fists into this wall isn't going to get me anywhere," Anonymous cursed as he fell to his knees, exhaustion threatening to overtake him until he reached into his pocket. "This was a little more then I bargained for, but It'll have to do."

"Oh, _God_…What, pray tell, are you attempting to pull out of your hat this time?" Mana asked dryly as the others were sent back by his attack.

"Double Soul: Hero Soul! Download!" Anonymous called out as he clenched the DS chip in his hand, data flowing into him as his prison was filled with a bright light. When the light cleared, everyone saw that Anonymous was in yet another DS form, this one different from the last.

He was now wearing a blue jumpsuit, most of which was covered in white armor, but had three white stars on his sides bellow his armpits and above his hips. The armor he wore over his body was white, except for an inlaid red arc curving upward over the chest, and downward just below the waist. He wore aerodynamic shoulder pads, white armbands on his biceps, and powerful looking arm guards –slightly resembling GutsMan's forearms but more streamlined- that extended over his blue-gloved hands, all of which had an inlaid red arc extending from the chest, down both arms, and to the inside of the wrists. His legs, slightly bent, presented a gap at the knee, which must've meant that when his legs were straight, the armor would lock over his knees, the only decoration on them being a pair of red plates at the tips of where the feet would be jutting out. Lastly, he wore a white helmet and face mask, the latter resembling a stoic face, that made him look like he was broad-jawed, with a red marking around the eyes, and what appeared to be small black vents out of the corners of the eye. The NaviMark he wore on his chest just under the upper red arc resembled a neon electric blue digital roulette, situated along the edge leaving the center black.

"Huh? A_nother _Double Soul?" MegaMan asked in shock.

"What's this one do?" Naruto asked, the fight momentarily stopped pending the enigmatic navi's aesthetical change.

"Heroman…"DS Anonymous spoke as electricity arced up his arms and into his chest. "BLAST!" he roared as vents in his shoulders opened, lightning shooting out of them similar to a welding torch, as lightning was released from the top, back, and sides of his helmet, along with the black vents below his eyes.

The next moment, electricity gathered around his fist before he drove it into the side of the Independent Cube, electricity arcing across it from the powerful punch. However, the prison remained unmoved, much to the group's horror.

At that same moment, unbeknownst to them all, Mana felt a twinge of pain shoot through his left eye, but made sure to hide it well.

_What's since? He was able to reach my Negating Eye through the Independent Cube? If this bozo was as good as he said, my Cube would have already been history! …I-it's a fluke at best. It won't happen a second time that easily. ,_he said to himself, only for another twinge of pain to shoot through his eye as DS Anonymous continued to deliver lightning-enhanced blow after blow against the inside of his prison, lightning practically filling the small space from the sheer force of the attacks.

Megaman picked up Arma's twitching as a lowering of his guard, and thought it was the perfect opportunity to strike this strange man while his back was turned.

"Now, Megaman! Gregar, BattleChip! Download!" Lan shouted as he brought the green-colored chip down into his PET, MegaMan's body erupting in a purple wave of energy a moment later, a beastial roar escaping his lips before the wave parted, the custom netnavi now in his Gregar form, his crimson eyes narrowing on his target. Now that MegaMan had Gregar's speed and claws, who at the moment decided that going for the kill may be the only option instead of detaining him and sending him to the NetPolice and such was too risky. And getting him to pull a _'ProtoMan' _meant they'd _really _been caught with their pants down.

"Alright, Mega! If you think it's a good idea, then… HIT 'IM WHERE IT HURTS!" Lan shouted.

"Roger!" his Navi counterpart replied as he swiped a swipe that poured a large portion of his strength into a single decisive blow into the head, ending this.

What Mega didn't count on was how, in the single second it took for him to recover from the attack, that Arma clasped his four fingers on his left hand – two for both of Mega's claws, in such a way he didn't even get skinned–and to everyone's horror –including their NetOps– slashed the wolf-themed Navi in the stomach, releasing a large helping of his slowly depleting data.

"You and your NetOps should all be ashamed!" the formally-dressed brunette shouted, his sharp voice catching everyone off guard. "Who do you think you all are, working with this murderer? Don't tell me you all actually _trust_ him!"

"Whaddaya mean?" Naruto yelled. "The two of them have helped us out plent. _You _on the other hand, aren't making any friends _here_."

"Need I spell it out for you? Tell me right now the answers to what I ask, or your savior dies a deplorable death!" Arma yelled at Onii-San's screen as he jabbed a finger at his chest, which for some reason made him feel like he were being stabbed with a knife. At the same moment, Lan realized he couldn't jack his Navi out, much to his horror.

"**Why did you burn down the orphanage that day?" **he demanded in an enraged tone.

At the moment those words left Arma's mouth, Onii-San's hands went to his head, his teeth clenching as semi-blurry images of a burning building, dark splotches on the ground, and the sound of a snapping tree branch came into his head. However, all he could do was shake his head from side to side, fighting the vice-like feeling pressing down on his brain because he just _didn't_know what was going on inside his head. Seeing that he wasn't getting any answers, Mana decided to ask a different question.

"**How could you have betrayed your best friend?**" he shouted.

At that moment it felt like Onii-San's brain was being put through a vise. Random images started splattering against his mind's eye, but none of them made sense. He had no clue who this guy was, or why he was targeting him and beating the snot out of his allies, but it_couldn't_be nothing, otherwise his mind wouldn't have such a violent reaction to this guy's presence. In fact none of the images would be showing up at all if he didn't have _some_kind of connection to this guy.

"**Do you even remember my real **_**name**_**?**" he roared, somehow implying that they knew one another.

"Rgh... N... No..." Onii-San hissed as his grip tightened, drops of blood flowing down the side of his face as unfamiliar images of himself with a brown-haired boy, a blond-haired girl, and some kind of blue-furred tiger flashed in front of his mind. "I just... gr... don't know..." he cringed as the images continued, like his brain was trying to crawl out of his skull.

"…So you really don't know, huh…?", Arma trailed off. His sad smile sent a strange message across the board. "I've should've known that getting answers from the way you are know was pointless. But one thing is certain: NONE OF YOU OR YOUR ALLIES ACROSS THE GLOBE SHALL STALL MY JUDGMENT!" Arma screamed at the end at his sword plunged into Megaman's NaviMark, screaming as the Gregar form collected into a single ball of light –its BattleChip frame inside-, and Arma sliced through it in one swift motion, shattering it into a thousand pieces. After the shock of what happened, Megaman's body was harshly thrown at Lan's screen, breaking for a second, and reformed as Lan blinked from the act while MegaMan tumbled across the ground and landed in a heap.

"_That's _for getting involved in what doesn't concern you sacks of shit! You're still on my list, Lan Hikari – don't ever think you and your Navi are ever safe!" he said with narrowed eyes as he jabbed a finger like him, Anonymous' straits ignored for the most part as the battle continued.

* * *

After what felt like forever, DS Anonymous' attacks on the inside of his prison ceased, only for him to step backwards until his back fell against the other wall of his prison, the lightning racing out of his body growing dim 'til it ceased altogether. When everyone wondered why he'd stopped attacking the wall of his cell, Key was the first to point it out.

"Anonymous! Your hands! What happened to your hands?" Key cried as Anonymous' arms were limp at his sides, both of his hands completely destroyed from attacking the seemingly unbreakable wall for so long.

"That wall *pant* looks like a tough *pant* nut to crack," DS Anonymous said simply as he struggled to remain upright.

"So, you now realize how futile it is to fight me," Arma stated curtly as he tossed MegaMan's body to the side, having taken what he wanted. "I guess I should consider myself fortunate that you'd be foolish enough to weaken yourself to such a degree. Once I am through eliminating your allies out here, I'm going to eliminate _you, _and after all these years exact my revenge. Onii-San! Your death is at hand, and your _'NetNavi' _will be the first to go!"

_There's that word again. 'Revenge.', _Onii-San thought to himself as he watched the conflict escalate even further. S_eriously, who _is _this guy? I don't remember- Agh! _he cried as he suddenly clutched his head in pain for what felt like the fifth time this fight.

"Hehe _*pant* _don't think I'm _*pant* _not on to you," DS Anonymous said between breaths. "I noticed _*pant* _that the entire time I _*pant* _was attacking this prison… your hold over it… was beginning to wane."

"What?" Arma breathed sharply.

"That's right, I've figured out the secret to your little trick," DS Anonymous said simply as he finally caught his breath. "Somehow, you established a prison on a separate dimension from this one around me, and even though it's unbreakable, it's still linked to your "Negating Eye"," he said, catching the name of Arma's technique by cooincidence alone. "However, the chances of affecting you are slim, since the method of attacking the prison to affect you only works from the inside."

"Well, your hands have been completely destroyed," Arma replied bluntly seeing the useless stubs on the ends of Anonymous' forearms, data leaking away with each passing second. "What can you do against me as you are now? Even if you _can _escape, which _WON'T _happen, do you really think I'll let anyone leave. It's you or them. Make your choice," he spat.

**Cue Heroman Soundtrack – Joey and Heroman**

At this DS Anonymous smirked as he pushed himself off from the wall, then stood in the middle of the prison, newfound electricity arcing down his arms creating new fists in place of the destroyed ones made of pure lightning, the red arcs across his body and arms beginning to glow as a new light shone in his eyes.

"Do you seriously think I'll let you hurt these guys?" DS Anonymous asked as electricity began to build. "I may not be a hero, but I know what I am, and what I'm going to do… I'm not gonna chose to save only myself and let them die, or save only them and let myself be killed. I'll save everyone. I'm the guy that's gonna kick your ass!"

"Anonymous..." Key sighed as his strength began returning in spades.

"Heroman…"DS Anonymous spoke as held his arms at his sides, electricity arcing from across his body into the center of the ring. "O SPARK!" he roared as he placed his hands on his hips, the red arcs now resembling a full circle as the space around him began to grow dark, the red circle being illuminated through the darkness.

The next moment a massive white beam of electricity shot out from DS Anonymous' body, firing point-blank range directly into the wall in front of him, however, instead of the electricity arcing across the inside of the prison like his last attack, this one kept pushing forward, all the energy being driven forward.

"GAAAAUGH!" Mana cursed as he suddenly felt an intense pain shoot through his left eye, closing it as blood began to leak out from the strain. _No! Impossible! Could he really be capable of such power?_

'_Now's my chance!_' Naruto thought as he readied his Muramasa and Z-Saber. "You're wide _open_!" he roared as he lunged at his opponent, bringing both swords down in an overhead arc.

"Damn you!" Mana cursed as he blocked Naruto's sword attacks, his left hand going to his eye in an attempt to stop the blood leaking out as DS Anonymous' attack continued to grow more powerful by the second. _Damn! I can't believe he forced me this low! I have no choice, do I?_ Mana thought before kicking Naruto away from him in the stomach ."Release!" he muttered as he leapt backwards, his hand poised at the straining prison.

At that moment, the Independent Cube around DS Anonymous shattered around him, the massive beam of electricity shooting into the sky when it was let loose, instantly parting the blood red clouds above before the beam ceased, Anonymous falling out of DS form a moment later.

"Anonymous!" Key cried as she ran up and caught him before he fell, his forearms completely destroyed. "Anonymous are you all right?"

Anonymous weakly opened an eye weakly, the sky above NetCity, now instead of cybernetic grey, shone a beautiful sky blue as a result of his attack. It was certainly better than having a giant grey circuit board above your head.

"Heh, I'm fine. And plus, the sky doesn't look like a sheet of metal hangin' over our heads, so that's good too. Hehe, ah!" he moaned as he cringed.

Arma turned his gaze to the right, there now being two of the orange-clad ninja as they held their arms between them, a whooshing sound issuing from their hands as a spiraling sphere of energy began to form.

"Now that Anonymous is out of that prison," Naruto started. "We don't have to worry about what will happen once we defeat you," the clone finished as the two of them suddenly shot forward.

"Giant…"the two said as they rushed at the dazed Mana, a spiralling shpere of energy forming in their hands and growing larger. "RASENGAN!" they both roared as they brought their attack down at him, destroying Arma's sword the moment he brought it up in defense and slamming right into him, the shockwave from the attack destroying the Shadow Clone and forcing Naruto to keep the attack on mark himself.

The next moment, the Giant Rasengan had shot Arma into the sky, his body boring through the stadium and the buildings in his path as dark energy began to leak out from his body.

"You think… this is over…?" Arma muttered weakly. "Well, now… it seems like you 'NetNavis' and 'Smashers' are in for a…big surprise," he grinned before continuing. "And what's…worse…? You're all… still… one move… away… from being…'Checkmated'. Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… haaaaaaaaa..."

And with that, the dark matter dissolved into three glowing orbs; a light blue one with specks of tan, a pale yellow one, and a dark green one. The three orbs looked like they nodded in some way and split into three different directions like shooting stars.

One of which was headed straight for NetCity…

* * *

**The character Mana Albarn (AKA Arma Geddon/Daten {meaning "Fallen Angel"}) is an OC under the ownership of Dr. Weird, and was created for use in this FanFiction. Also, this chapter (Especially involving all parts with Arma Geddon) was co-written by said Dr. Weird.**

**Whether more of him will be seen or not is up to your interpretation. I'm going to try to keep things quiet about this for now. Wouldn't want there to be any spoilers.****Anyway, to lighten the somewhat-serious mood –that I hope I've set with this chapter-, here's a little omake to level things out before the chapter ends.**

* * *

**Omake Setting: Onii-San's personal office (21:00 Military Time)**

**Onii-San sat at his desk, his feet propped against the bookcase as he looked at the fish tanks to his left and right. After looking at them for a while, he turned his eyes to the ceiling.**

_**I need to remember to change out the fish. These little fellas have to go back to the water before they forget how to feed themselves.**_

_**Oh, and this whole Arma Geddeon thing too. This could be a problem. I just wish I knew who he was though. I've checked records for a registered NetNavi matching his description and haven't come up with anything. This could get complicated. But I can't shake the feeling that I known him from somewhere… somewhere important… Could he have been…?**_

**The next moment his PET started vibrating in his pocket, shaking him out of his thoughts. After taking it out, he saw that he was receiving a long-distance text. Now, normally, that wouldn't be anything too strange in that day and age of advanced technology, however for someone in **_**Onii-San's **_**position, getting any kind of communication from the outside world was a pretty big thing.**

**Now, there were only two sources a call or text could have come from. It could either be, A) From his operatives out in the field, or B) Someone from his past before NME who was now attempting to contact him, and had somehow gotten info on **_**how**_**to contact him.**

**He flipped the screen open, furrowing his eyebrow and narrowing his eyes for a sec as the LED screen lit the room behind him and his eyes adjusted. The text itself was rather lengthy and looked like it was typed on a keyboard rather than a phone, though that may've been because its contents were very important, and abbreviated texts were unprofessional when coming from **_**professionals **_**in any profession.**

_Onii-San, as I believe you are now called. It has been a while since we've last conversed. __How have you been? Are you in good health? Do you take the time to look at the big picture and observe the world around? Do you thank the good lord every now and then for the blessings he's given you? And more importantly, have you been wearing clean underwear?  
__That aside, I am not simply calling to ask how you are and such. Two protégés of mine will be dropping by your place for a little disciplinary training. Lord above knows they need it. Literally.  
__Now, normally, I wouldn't force something like this on you –given your current situation at the moment-, but these two need to step out of Daten City for a while, and since you are one of the few people I can trust with these two -since you have come of age, and are mature enough to have two women stay at your home- they will be there within the week, give or take a few days.  
__Please take care of them as though they were your own family. Do whatever you deem necessary to get the point across in terms of discipline. Lighting their thumbs on fire is unacceptable, but anything else to get the point across is fine with me.__Basically, don't do anything I wouldn't do._

_With best regards and wishes,  
__Reverend Garterbelt_

**"Garterbelt, Garterbelt, Garterbelt..." Onii-San sighed to himself as he turned his desk around and let his head drop onto his desk, closing his PET screen while doing so. For a moment, he mulled the message over in his mind, thinking it may've been a crank text from Wolf or something since staying in his hangar and watching the TV in the corner was too boring for them. But then, just like when that Arma character spoke to him, vague memories flashed before his eyes, but were suddenly becoming more vivid, and he suddenly remembered who this Reverend Garterbelt, and more importantly who his two protégés, were.**

**Upon **_**remembering **_**said protégés, he got a slight nosebleed –to his shock-, which he quickly wiped away with his sleeve. Seems that he was indeed at that age now, and he'd have to watch his already **_**iffy **_**blood levels, should **_**that **_**reaction take place more often.**

_**Reverend Garterbelt. It's been a few years since I've heard that name. I've almost forgotten my times in Daten City as well. And those two…They really threw me for a loop the last time I was there. At least with as far as **_**I **_**can remember anyway. I wonder how Chuck is doing.**_

_**Oh well. They're on their way, and it can't be helped that they need a little disciplinary training. All I can do is welcome them with open arms and help them out until it's time to send them back on their way.**_

"**Serenity?" Onii-San said as he pressed the intercom button on his desk.**

"_**Yes sir?"**_

"**Could you please make sure that two moderately-sized rooms are prepared before the week is out?" he asked. "I will be receiving a couple of… **_**guests**_**, and would like for them to have a comfortable place to sleep for the duration of their stay."**

"_**Noted. Will there be anything else sir?"**_

"**Yes. Please stock up on sweets and women's clothing for them as well. I'd like for their visit to go smoothly so that I need not repeat this event again. To be more specific with the two aforementioned items, stock up on pudding and pastries, along with pre-twenty's sized clothing in particular along with panties and stockings."**

"_**Understood. Please continue being a kind and caring Messiah."**_

"**Come again?" Onii-San asked with narrowed eyes, his left eyebrow twitching as a tick mark appeared on his right temple.**

"_**Hehe. Sorry sir. I couldn't help myself to that little joke," **_**Serenity replied. **_**"Been watching that anime, Eden of the East lately, and, as I said, I couldn't help myself."**_

"**Well…fine. Just don't make that joke again. The word **_**Messiah**_**makes me a bit uneasy," Onii-San stated, emphasizing the very word 'Messiah'.**

"_**I will try not to make that joke again sir," **_**Serenity replied. **_**"I will now begin the preparations for our guests."**_

"**Thank you," Onii-San replied as he removed his finger from the button. "Now…" he said as he sighed heavily. "I can only pray that those two don't get me shipped off to a clinic before their visit ends. But now that I think about it, praying necessarily may not be the best thing to do around them. Or is it? Ah hell I don't know. All I know is that my work's going to be cut out for me," he said reaching into his desk and pulling out a bottle of aspirin pills.**

**Knowing _them_, he'd _need_ it.**

**A minute later after checking the expiration date on the pills, Onii-San looked at the ceiling, suddenly seeing the visage of two young boys with brown hair. All he could see was that they were smiling and laughing, and that one boy had one arm over the other's shoulder. He could also hear faint children's laughter in the background before both the image and the sound faded away.**

"**Arma Geddon… something tells me we'll meet again before all this is over. And I can't shake the feeling that it'll be in person."**

**After a few minutes of musing, Onii-San allowed himself to rest. Whatever was going on, he wouldn't live through it if he stressed himself out over it 24-7. He'd need plenty of rest. Especially with **_**them **_**heading for his doorstep.**


	9. The Training Matrix

**Here's the next chapter accompanied by the previous chapter to make up for the long absence. Enjoy.**

* * *

A week had passed since Mana Albarn, the mysterious humanoid NetNavi, had appeared in NetCity, and had nearly defeated MegaMan, GustMan, ProtoMan, Naruto, SamuraiMan, Phoenix, Key, Anonymous, and indirectly, Iris.

For what reasons Mana had against Onii-San Anonymous were yet unknown, and after the battle, Anonymous had disappeared into the Net along with his subordinates, no trace of them anywhere found since that day. Wherever they were, it was either in a completely isolated region where no one would think to look, the UnderNet, or a computer server electronically _and _physically disconnected from the rest of the net.

The next week of school was a bit trying for everyone because they had to feign ignorance to what had happened. However, Iris had the hardest time acclimating, especially since she came within a hair's width of dying. Literally.

And not to mention, that matters weren't made any better by DenTech High's male reaction to Iris' new look.

**Mini-Flashback**

It was a normal Monday morning after what had last transpired. Things went normal, until first block, when every guy in the class suddenly surrounded Iris, making her nervous as she was backed into the corner.

"Iris! What happened to your hair?"

"Did something happen?"

"You got it cut?"

"You hair was so beautiful."

"Hey, why are so upset all of a sudden?"

You see, Iris after the battle against Mana, had been forced to cut her hair into a shorter style, since it would be weird walking around with a large chunk of her hair missing from the near-death sword strike she had been on the receiving end of, and if anyone had noticed that the cut was smooth, then difficult-to-answer questions would be asked if something hadn't been done about it.

The next moment the school air was filled with the sound of fists meeting flesh, cries of pain echoing through the "halls of education" as Naruto beat the stuffing out of the guys who had surrounded Iris and had her cornered.

"Knock it off you dumbass chicken shits!" he growled over the bruised forms of the male students. "Maybe Iris is just upset because you guys won't leave her alone!"

After he finished kicking them out of the classroom and into the hall, Naruto put a hand on Iris' shoulder.

"Hey, don't think about what those guys say. You look perfect just the way you are," Naruto said as he wiped a tear from Iris' eye, earning _awwww_s from the other girls in the classroom and jealous grumbles from those who weren't chewing on their own teeth.

"T-Thank you, Naruto," Iris replied, wiping another tear.

**Mini-Flashback End**

Naruto of course got detention for what had happened, though after explaining to the principle his reasons for doing so, he only had to clap erasers after school on Friday instead of for the whole week and help out at school over the weekend.

* * *

At that Friday evening at the Hikari residence: 4:03 PM

"There. I'm finally done," Naruto sighed as he walked through the door after shaking some chalk dust out of his clothing. At the moment, he was wearing a simple red button-up shirt, black shorts, and brown sandals. "If I got chalk dust in my lungs, I'm suing that school."

"But still, you _did _beat up over a dozen guys in the course of one day," Lan commented from the couch. "They had to be sent to the infirmary and everything."

"I only beat them up because they were making Iris self-conscious about her appearance," Naruto sighed. "I knew I should've sent Iris and the others out when that Mana guy showed up. I just knew it."

"Who was he anyway?" Lan asked, the mood turning serious for a moment. "He didn't have a NaviMark on him either, he looked human, and he was able to hold off against six really powerful NetNavis like it was nothing. And then there were those weird attacks of his. I haven't seen anything like them before."

Naruto nodded as he vaulted over the back of the couch and took a seat, taking the remote in his hand before flipping through the channels. "I don't know, but clearly he had something against Anonymous. However, Onii-San doesn't seem to know anything."

"You think he's playing dumb?" Lan asked.

"No. He wasn't lying when he said he didn't know that guy. The guy's nails were cutting into his own scalp and everything," Naruto answered. "Something bigger must be going on. First it's the Darkloids, then Grave, the SubSpace Army, and now this guy," he said with a sigh, then smiled as he turned to Lan. "So where's mom?" he asked hoping to change the subject to something more positive.

"Mom went out on a weekend-long trip, and dad's looking MegaMan over at the lab after he stripped him of his Gregar power. I still have the Falzar chip, but I'm reluctant to use it. All that aside, the two of us have the house to ourselves until Sunday night," Lan said as he kicked off his shoes and put his feet up on the table. A moment later he got a text, read it, then grumbled as he put his feet on the floor. "Man, how does she always know?"

Naruto just laughed at his brother's antics. The next moment the doorbell rang. When Naruto got up to answer it, there was a deliveryman standing there with a package and a clipboard.

"Is this the Hikari residence?"

"Yes, this is the place."

"I've got a package for a Mr… Uzumaki."

"That would be me, sir."

The man gave Naruto an odd look, but shrugged his shoulders as he handed Naruto the clipboard. "Sign here please."

Naruto took the board, signed his name and signature, then passed it back to the deliveryman, who in return, handed Naruto an omnibus manga-sized box. When Naruto looked at the lower right corner, he saw the emblem **NME.**

"Hey! Where'd you get this package from?" Naruto asked as the man walked back to the truck.

"Sorry kid, I just deliver them. You'd have to talk to the shipping office," the man said as he hopped into his truck, his partner driving away moments later, leaving Naruto with the mysterious package.

"Who was at the door?" Lan asked as he flipped through the channels, finally settling on the news.

"_In other news, the Sharo Main Military Base experienced near-destruction at the hands of the mysterious SubSpace Army, the organization that is apparently responsible for the appearance of the giant airship appearing over DenTech city a few months ago," _the reporter read. _"A mysterious bomb, now having been classified as the SubSpace bomb thanks to information form an anonymous source, had been left at the base to detonate. However, Private Thane Anderson was able to take the device twelve miles out of the base using a military jeep before the bomb detonated. Once it did so, the newly dubbed SubSpace Zone was released, the blast radius being nearly one full mile in diameter. The current fate of Thane McAnderson is unknown, and more details will be announced as they're made available."_

"So these guys are really playing for keeps huh?" Lan sighed. "I'm glad Sharo's okay, but now we've got this big black ball staring us in the face," he said pointing to a satellite photo of the black sphere. "Anyway, who was at the door again."

"Deliveryman," Naruto answered as he set the package on the table. " . . . It's from NME."

"You mean that top secret company Onii-San runs?" Lan asked. "Sweet! Let's pop this sucker open and see what's inside," he said as he reached for the package, only for Naruto to grab his wrist.

"_Wait, we need to do this carefully_," Naruto whispered. "_For all we know, this could be one of those self-destructing messages like in secret agent movies._"

"_Right. Got it,"_ Lan responded as they casually got up from the couch, clearing a path to the backyard and closing the curtains over the windows, making sure the front door was locked before sitting before the package once again.

"I'm opening it," Naruto said as he brought out a pair of kunai, using one to hold the package down while using the other one to prick the corner of the package, then cut a neat line across the edge until he made a flap. After doing that, he set the kunai on the floor as he raised the package and pointed the opening downward, the contents sliding out slowly.

Lan quickly jumped behind the couch as what was isn't the package landed on the table, hoping it wasn't something that could explode.

"You can get up Rambo," Naruto said as he opened the curtains and moved the furniture back into place. "It's just a set of DVDs."

"DVDs?" Lan asked as he looked at the package inquisitively. "Holy shit!" he suddenly blurted out.

"What? What is it?" Lan asked as he leapt back to the couch.

"Onii-San just sent us The Ultimate Matrix Collection," Lan cried out as he held the black and green lined holding box. "They stopped making these years ago! And it's in mint condition too! Not even _Yai_ couldn't get a mint version of this."

"So this is a big deal?" Lan asked.

"Before the advent of the Cyber World, this was among the most popular movie series of that day," Lan explained enthusiastically. "The plot isn't as thrilling now and recent re-showings have met mixed reception, but the special effects earned several awards back in their day, the trilogy made over 450 billion dollars in gross revenue, and the lobby scene at the end of the first movie is among one of the most famous action scenes in filming history."

"And Ms. Mari says you aren't _interested_ in history lessons," Naruto said as he took the box in his hand and looked at the cover, seeing two men, one white and one black, with one woman. All of them were wearing black leather clothing and sunglasses, guns in a few of their hands, lines of green coding around and behind them. He then opened the box and read the titles on the discs aloud.

"The Matrix, The Matrix Revisited, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Reloaded Revisited, The Matrix Revolutions, The Matrix Revolutions Revisited, the Animatrix, The Roots of the Matrix, The Burly Man Chronicles, The Zion Archive. Ten disks. Man, it'll take all _night_ to watch all this," Naruto said as he turned to the couch, only to see a blinking Lan-shaped outline where his brother was last sitting. "Uh, Lan?"

"Maylu!" Lan cried into the phone excitedly. "Call the gang together and tell them to meet at my house in a half hour! I know how we're spending Friday evening! I'll tell you when you get here, I want it to be a surprise. I'll call Dex and Tory over, you take care of the others. And make it fast, otherwise Naruto and I will start without you."

"Well so much for taking more Commander Fish photos," Naruto sighed as he looked up at the knickknack shelf in the living room, the wooden action figure staring back at him blankly.

* * *

When everyone got to Lan's house, things were relatively quiet, but then things got crazy when Lan showed them why they were gathered there.

"Mint condition?"

"The Matrix?"

"All ten disks?"

"Every movie? Intact?"

"Even _I _couldn't get mint condition! Just who is this guy?" Yai cried as she looked at the mint condition box.

"Hey, let's not look a gift horse in the mouth and start watching," Lan said excitedly as he set up the DVD player.

Lan, Maylu, Roll, Meddy, Tory, Shuuko, Dex, Chisao, Anetta, Yai, Iris, and Naruto were all squeezed together in the living room's chairs, the first movie starting in their aptly dubbed Matrix Marathon. The Brawlers (as they were referred to) didn't really have any interest in the all night-long movie marathon, and opted to stay where they were.

"Oh man, this is going to be sweet!" Lan said as the opening scenes started.

"I'd still like to know where this guy got these DVDs in _mint_," Yai muttered.

"Hey where's Chaud?" Anetta asked.

"Busy," Lan hushed as he started nibbling on his popcorn. "Now shhhh! The movie's starting."

* * *

Hours later, the sun had long since set -was actually hours away from _rising_-, and after the last of the DVDs had played, everyone fell asleep where they were, Lan and Maylu resting against each other's shoulders, Chisao asleep on Dex's back, Tory off in a corner somewhere as was Shuuko, Yai and Anetta on the floor with their feet in each other's faces, leaving Naruto directly in front of the TV with Jasmine and Meddy resting on his shoulders, Iris laying down on his lap, lightly snoring away.

By appearances, Roll seemed to have gotten up and began calling everyone's parents, then went to sleep in the guest bed.

Naruto blinked a few times, feeling an unfamiliar weight on his shoulders (literally), and looked around to see the three girls using him as a pillow.

"_Man, that Matrix stuff was pretty intense_," Naruto said to himself as he thought about worming his way out of there, but just couldn't bring himself to do it when he saw the looks on the three girl's sleeping faces. "_I may as well turn the TV off. Wouldn't want to waste electricity,_" he said to himself as he turned the monitor off, only for it to come on again a moment later. "_Huh?_"

Naruto turned the TV back off, but then it came back on, and for the next few minutes, he continued turning the monitor on and off, only for it to stubbornly turn itself back on a moment later.

The next moment, Morpheus, one of the main characters from The Matrix series, appeared on the screen, sitting on the large red chair he'd used towards the beginning of the first movie, a darkened hotel room in the background. "Naruto Uzumaki. It's good to see you."

_"Morpheus?"_ Naruto whispered in shock at the sunglasses wearing man looking at him from the other end of the monitor. _"Holy crap? Is this real, or am I just dreaming?"_ he asked himself incredulously. "Or was it the buttery popcorn?" he wondered aloud.

"Nah, not really. But hey, the look on your face, priceless," _Morpheus _said before pulling his face and clothing off, revealing none other than Anonymous, his arms fully healed. "Surprise! How do you like the gift?"

"_Shhhhh!_" Naruto said hushing the enigma on the screen. "_You'll wake everybody up._"

"Right, sorry," Anonymous replied as the TV's volume turned down. "Anyway, how'd you enjoy the movie?"

"_Oh, it was awesome,_" Naruto replied with a smile. "_But why'd you send me this?_"

"To get you ready for training of course," Anonymous replied. "Now say _ahhh _while I aim this pill for your mouth," Anonymous said as he took out a straw, put a red pill in it, and brought it to his lips.

"_But Anonymous, you're on the other side of a TV-_" Naruto started, but was cut off when Anonymous suddenly shot the red pill through the screen and into his open mouth.

The next moment, he felt as though he were being sucked through a straw, seeing him leave his own body as he was sucked into the TV screen.

* * *

When he got his senses back, everything around him was white. The floor, the sky, everything in every direction, with no end in sight.

"Woah… Where am I?" Naruto asked as he spun around a few times, seeing nothing but white until he caught a spot of black in the corner of his eye, doing a double-take to see Anonymous standing there with Morpheus' glasses.

"This is… The Matrix," Anonymous explained, speaking in Morpheus' voice before taking his sunglasses off and dropping the sunglasses to the ground and stomping his foot down. "Anyway, this is a special training area I use, and for the next few hours, we'll be using it to help unlock your potential in the cyber world."

"Why did you just break your sunglasses?" Naruto asked as he looked at the broken frame and glass on the floor, only for it to begin floating up into the air and toward Anonymous' hand, the pieces pulling themselves together until they were whole again, settling themselves back onto his face by their own accord like their destruction had just been rewound.

"You were saying?" Anonymous asked, completely unfazed by the reality-rewind that had just settled itself back onto his face.

"Uh… How…"

"All will be explained… In time…" Anonymous replied, assuming Morpheus' voice, which, while cool at first, was beginning to creep Naruto out. And get a bit annoying too.

"You know… that was cool at first, but now it's just creeping me out," Naruto said. "And annoying too."

"Sorry," Anonymous replied as he adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Anyway, I'm glad you could come here this evening."

"_Didn't really have a choice,"_ Naruto muttered under his breath.

"Now then," Anonymous said as he raised his hand, readying his fingers to snap, Naruto jumping a good distance away and covering his head with his hands before-

**SNAP**

**WHOOOOOOOOSH**

When Naruto looked up, rows upon rows of files were rushing past them, almost as though they were in a grocery store aisle. The files seemed to stretch on for forever, colored a light beige as Anonymous walked towards him, his hands in his pockets as he looked them over.

Thankfully nothing blew up. At close-range, that would've been bad.

"What are these?" Naruto asked as he looked at the rows of files to his sides. "This looks just like in the movie."

"This lesson was prepared in a way that the system would be familiar to you," Anonymous stated as he pulled up a file, flipped through its pages, then placed it back into its slot. "It'll help when the new data is input into your systems, as to not cause an overload. Or negative impact on your body and psyche as a unit."

"New data? Input? Wait, what're you going to do to me?" Naruto asked nervously. Sure he was strong, but Anonymous was probably stronger still, and he probably couldn't disagree with anything Anonymous had planned for him if he had any disagreements. If anything, he'd probably be at the guy's mercy.

And no, not in the gay/homosexual way.

"The same thing that Neo went through in the Matrix trilogy," Anonymous answered. "Minus the dying at the end of course."

Naruto sighed in relief, patting his chest to get his heart to slow down.

"Good, now that you agree," Anonymous said as he took a saw and started carving a circle around Naruto's feet, "we'll begin your training."

When Anonymous completed the circle, Naruto looked down, then up, then down again before looking up at Anonymous as the floor fell out from beneath him, the void swallowing him in a matter of seconds.

* * *

Moments later, Naruto found himself in a mountaintop temple, from the design, obviously Xiaolin in origin. A few mountain peaks poked above a world of mist down below, and only the sound of the wind and his own breathing were heard in the quiet, and somewhat soothing, setting.

"Wonder if there are places like this in the rest of the Cyber World," Naruto said to himself as he got to his knees, a hand extended offering him assistance.

When Naruto took the hand, he traced it back to its owner and was surprised to see Anonymous on the other end, causing him to yelp and fall backwards as he backed into a pillar. "Woah woah woah woah! How the hell'd you get here before me?"

"That you will learn in time, young Orange Boy," Anonymous said with closed eyes and a bow. At the moment, he was wearing white xiaolin robes with beige trim, his feet bare revealing that those were human too, since most NetNavis didn't have anything underneath their shoes unless they were _heavily _customized.

"Orange Boy? Is that a slam on my outfit?" Naruto asked as he got up.

"It is merely NME's codename for yourself since you have accepted Onii-San's request to participate in his private project, and will be used to address you when you are needed in any NME-related matters. A secret codeword if you will," Anonymous stated, eyes still closed. "It is also due to how you interpret yourself in the cyber world."

When Naruto looked himself over, he saw that he was once more back in his orange ninja outfit, his hitae-ate included, though his clothes weren't as baggy as before, and instead of there being a knot on the back of his headband, it was more like a metal band all around. His blond hair stuck out of the top, and over his ears were NaviMarks just like the one on his chest. A moving whirlpool pattern for those of you who don't know.

"Woah! How'd I wind up back in this thing? And why's it less baggy?" Naruto asked, personally _liking _his more form-fitting attire. Thankfully he wasn't in orange _spandex_, like every other NetNavi.

"As I have said, your outfit now is preset, since that is how your mind interprets its body when it is in the Cyber World," Anonymous replied.

"But how come it's been baggy ever other time I've been in the cyber world?"

"Because then, you were wearing your real-world equivalent to that outfit. Since you were not in it when you entered, your outfit automatically changed itself, your headband now having modified itself to offer more protection."

"Woah… So all this mind over matter stuff isn't just a bunch of bologna?" Naruto asked as he looked himself over. "Hey! Am I going to learn how to fly?" he suddenly asked excitedly.

"Calm yourself, young grasshopper," Anonymous said, now donning a white beard went down to his waist and bushy eyebrows that covered his eyes, before removing them like novelty items and facing Naruto once more, the Morpheus glasses present on his face once more. "To begin, I will help you break the shackles that bind you in this form."

"Shackles?" Naruto asked as he looked himself over, not finding any shackles in the lest. The next moment, Anonymous rushed him with a left jab, Naruto barely dodging out of the way of the first one before he was suddenly bombarded by a storm of bare-handed strikes, all of his energy going into repelling the attacks.

"Hey what's the big- oof!" Naruto started, but was interrupted by one of Anonymous' lightning-fast strikes.

Two seconds after his guard had faltered from that single hit, it felt like his body was being beaten by a tenderizer as Anonymous' blows continued to rain down into him.

A minute later, Anonymous settled himself into a spread-foot stance perpendicular form him, his hands cupped before himself as a ying-yang symbol formed within in an ethereal sphere of energy before he delivered a final open-palm strike in both directions, Naruto being sent into the wall behind him in a blue, the walk cracking with his impact as blood shot out of his mouth, his body beating it to the ground with a low thud.

_Uuuu…ugh. How did he move so fast… _Naruto thought to himself, panting heavily as he tried to force himself up. _No… Why did he just do that… No normal navi should be able to move that quickly. The processing power required for it would be massive, and even if he _could _move that fast, his other parameters should be suffering as a result._

"Naruto, _please_ don't tell me you seriously think you're breathing _air _right now," Anonymous said as he readjusted his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Naruto's eyes instantly shot open, his ragged breathing suddenly ceasing as that realization dawned on him. As he stood up, though his body still ached, his lungs didn't burn anymore.

"Ah, good, you actually caught on," Anonymous said as he settled out of his spear-armed stance, cracking his neck and shoulders as he stretched his hands. "I was afraid I was going to have to throw you into a lake and put a lid over it. But this was fun too."

"YOU WERE GOING TO THROW ME INTO A _LAKE_?" Naruto cried as his head suddenly turned really big and angry with tick marks on it, drool flying everywhere, but somehow none of it hit Onii-San.

"The point is you've overcome your first hurdle, and the binds that hold your potential back have begun to loosen," Anonymous replied simply as he readjusted his glasses, which with a flick of his wrist suddenly turned into a pair of whitish-pink doves and flew into the distance.

Naruto's response to that was a WTF look.

" . . . What? The non-existent limitations of one who can manipulate the cyber world around them aren't limited to only combat purposes," Anonymous stated as the two doves suddenly settled back onto his shoulders. "If the two of you take a dump on my shoulders, I'll feed you to Chompy."

"Uh . . . Chompy?" Naruto paled as he suddenly felt two jets of hot breath on the back of his neck. When he turned around, he was suddenly face to face with a velociraptor the size of a tyrannosaurus rex. Or in Naruto's case, face to nostril.

The large reptile simply exhaled into his face once more, Naruto's hair being blown back as his left eye twitched, his body frozen in place for a few seconds.

"HOLY SHIT!" Naruto cried as he suddenly ran away from the horrifying creature behind him, Anonymous opening a pair of temple doors allowing both Naruto, and the beast, to exit the temple.

* * *

Five seconds later, Naruto found himself sinking into the depths of a crystal clear Caribbean sea, the sand at his feet white with multiple fish species swimming around him, one or two nibbling on his toes before they swam off.

When Naruto looked up, his jaw dropped slightly as he saw the T-rex sized velociraptor doing the back stroke above him, its little arms somehow able to keep its body balanced in the water above.

When his vision dropped back to a level expression, the _air _suddenly left his lungs as he began struggling in the water. When he tried to swim up to the surface, he suddenly found a massive black chain linked to the end of the Titanic of all things at the ocean's depths, keeping him under the water as he continued to struggle in vain. The water itself wasn't that deep. Taller than the Titanic obviously, with just enough visibility that you can see the bottom from the surface.

"Seriously? You're chased by a velociraptor for five seconds, and you forget the whole _air_ thing?" Anonymous asked from right beside Naruto, now wearing a red Hawaiian shirt with gold palm tree designs on it, two golden chains around his neck along with a pair of dark blue sunglasses over his eyes, blue star tattoos on the tops of his forearms, and was barefoot. If he weren't drowning at the moment, he would've laughed at the speedo that Anonymous was wearing at the moment, or maybe even the pompadour hairstyle.

**Author's Note:  
Think Franky's outfit from One Piece and you've hit the nail on the head. Just did it for no reason really.**

"Air thing?" Naruto asked, suddenly realizing what was going on. A moment later he settled himself back down and walked over to Anonymous to give him a piece of his mind, only to find himself still bound by his ankles. "When the hell did _this _happen?" he asked pointing at the chain, holding a length of it in his hands.

"What? Is it that heavy?" Anonymous asked.

"Yes. And it's in the Atlantic, not the Caribbean," Naruto said as he gave it a tug, the water not muffling his words as he tried pulling it again.

"What? This thing?" Anonymous asked as he suddenly yanked the chain linked to the boat, said boat flying above his head and sending Naruto flying off after it too.

"Waaaaaahhhhhh!" Naruto cried as the entire thing broke through the surface of the water, then fall back down and dragging him with it until the boat settled back down onto the sand. "Wait a minute, this thing isn't that heavy?" Naruto asked as he settled himself onto the ground before giving it a tug, moving it a few inches towards him.

"The laws of the Real World don't necessarily apply here," Anonymous stated. "Just because something is big, doesn't necessarily mean it's heavy. The concept of weight itself doesn't have any meaning in the cyber world. You've only had that problem before because you _perceive _that it actually weighs anything, even though weight has no true meaning here."

Naruto began dragging the titanic behind him, slowly at first, but he eventually got the hang of it after a while. Even though the thing was huge, he was still able to pull it about, though not to the extent Anonymous could.

"Well, I think he's had the training wheels on long enough," Anonymous said as he snapped his fingers.

* * *

The next moment, Naruto found himself on the top of a really tall skyscraper, the Caribbean sea gone in an instant, as was the chain and Titanic behind him.

"Now then, now that you are aware of the physical restraints _not _being there, we can stop playing kid games and get to the _good_ stuff," Anonymous said, now dressed in his normal attire, a smug smile on his face as he looked over the edge of the building to the simulated city below.

"Woah… That's high…" Naruto said as he looked over the edge.

"Yes. However, unlike in the movie, if you fall, there won't be a stretchy rubber effect to save you," Anonymous mentioned as he crouched onto his heels, then leapt in a hundred foot-tall arc over the building and to the other, clearing a distance of up to seventy feet. "Now! I want you to get to the other side!" he shouted from the other side, his hands held around his mouth.

"Heh, too easy," Naruto said as he straightened his headband over his head as he prepared to jump.

"And no ninja powers. Just that of a normal boy your height and weight who engages in daily exercise!" Anonymous shouted, causing Naruto to fumble and nearly fall off the side of the building until he pulled himself up.

"You're not making this easy are you?" Naruto asked as he looked over the edge, the simulated traffic and pedestrians not making this any easier for him. "Okay. Here goes nothing!" he shouted as he backed up, then ran forward, sailing through the air. "Y-Yes! I'm going to make it!" he cheered happily.

The next moment, Anonymous suddenly teleported to the bottom of the building, confusing Naruto until he slammed his palms into the side of the building with the hadouken pose, sending the whole building lurching backwards and out of Naruto's trajectory.

"HOLY SHIT!" Naruto cried as he flailed uselessly in the air, his fingers just brushing against the edge of the building until he found himself falling towards an expanse of concrete. Seconds later his vision was obscured by lots of red.

And blue? And green? And yellow? And pink?

"Huh?" Naruto asked himself as he poked his head out of what appeared to be a carnival-grade ball pit. The _same _one in fact that the enigmatic netnavi had used on ProtoMan before... well you get the idea.

"Well I think that went rather well," Anonymous said as he pulled a dango out of his pocket before pulling it off the skewer and into his mouth with his teeth.

"What the hell was that for?" Naruto demanded as he stomped out of the ball pit, shaking his clothing as he approached the clearly-evident psychopath. "I could've seriously died!"

"I wouldn't say _die _per say," Anonymous said scratching his cheek with the dango skewer. "I would've gone with maimed, gored, flattened, or seriously injured."

"They're practically the same thing!" Naruto argued back.

"Anyway, the point of the exercise was to see if you could make it or not," Anonymous said. "Since you held back and _still_ made it, you should be able to do around as much as I can with your ninja skills included."

"And why exactly did you _not _have me use my ninja skills?" Naruto asked.

"Because if you're hit by something that reduces your strength, you'll need to know your limits in this kind of thing," Anonymous stated as he walked into the street, the surrounding building deconstructing themselves digitally until everything was white except for a black stretch of asphalt. "Now, hop in," he said as he removed a manhole cover.

"The sewers? Seriously?" Naruto asked.

"It's only there for the purpose of a scene transition. Now go in," Anonymous said as he pointed to it.

"What if I don't wanna?" Naruto asked crossing his arms.

Anonymous simply sighed as he took a few steps backwards from the manhole cover. Then, he closed his left eye and positioned his left hand between himself and Naruto, pinching his fingers lightly together, except for a gap in the middle.

Naruto had no idea what the enigma was doing until he suddenly felt like a vice-like grip had been clamped around his head. The next moment Anonymous lifted his arm, Naruto being hoisted into the air as well until he was positioned above the manhole cover.

When he was dropped, Naruto spread his feet at the last second. For a second he thought he'd won that round, but the next moment, Anonymous closed his left eye again, making a pinching motion with his left hand while he had his right hand a little above his head.

The next moment, Naruto felt his feet being crammed together, something invisible pushing him down into the manhole cover.

"The power of one's perspective in a controlled space is certainly an amazing thing," Anonymous said as he walked over to the hole. "Useful and entertaining at the same time," he said as he brought his feet and arms together before dropping down.

* * *

The next moment, Naruto found himself in a perfectly level cyber space, the floor composed of dark blue tiles with glowing white outlines, the sky around a light green.

Naruto looked around, expecting Anonymous to somehow be there before him, so it came as a bit of a shock when he heard Anonymous touch down behind him.

"What happened to already being here before me?" Naruto asked.

"What are you talking about? You went down the manhole first. How could I get here before you?" Anonymous asked.

_Is this guy _shitting _me? _Naruto thought.

"Now then," Anonymous said as he dug into his pocket. "It is time for your final test. To see if you're capable of utilizing your power in the Cyber World. Double Soul Chip, download."

The next moment there was a flash of light from Anonymous' pocket, temporarily blinding Naruto. When he opened his eyes, he saw that while his opponent had adopted another Double Soul, it wasn't as diverse as the others were.

His outfit consisted of a black business suit with black shoes. Around his neck was a near-white violet tie, a handkerchief of the same color in his left breast pocket. He was also wearing what appeared to be a black top hat over his head, the band around it the same color as his tie.

"Double Soul: CP9 Soul," DS Anonymous simply stated as he settled into a relaxed stance.

"CP9? That some kind of acronym?" Naruto asked.

"You could say that," DS Anonymous responded. "Soru."

The next moment he disappeared in a blur, completely invisible until Naruto sensed a presence behind him.

"Shigan."

When Naruto turned around to confront his opponent, he suddenly felt something dull stab itself into his left shoulder. When he looked to the side, he saw that it was Anonymous' right index finger of all things.

"W-What was that?" Naruto cried in shock as he held his hand over the hold in his shoulder. Even as it repaired itself, it still hurt like a bitch. "Did you just stab me with your finger?"

"Finger _Gun_," DS Anonymous corrected simply as he held his right index finger to his mouth before blowing a bit of Naruto's data off his finger. "Now. Shall we continue?" he asked as he put his hands in his pockets.

"Fine! You asked for it!" Naruto said as he brought out his Nindo Buster, noticing something was different about it. It was slightly more streamlined, an inlaid roulette on the middle of the buster was a revolving touchscreen with the icon of a kunai, shuuriken, paper bomb, flash bomb, and energy shot on it, the kunai option currently highlighted.

Without a moment's delay, Naruto started releasing kunai rapidly, the pointed black edges coming straight at Anonymous in a horizontal rain of pointed steel.

"Tekkai," DS Anonymous said with a bored expression on his face, his body shining from head to toe as though he were just polished. A second later, the dozen kunai that struck him simply bounced off with metallic clangs, their tips bent when they hit the ground until they disappeared.

"What the-" Naruto blurted out.

"You'll have to do better than that," DS Anonymous said simply. "Soru."

The next moment he disappeared again, Naruto instantly bringing up his guard, preparing for another Shigan, only to become agitated beyond belief as Anonymous was now facing him with his hands in his pockets with his eyes closed, almost as if mocking him. Before he could get a good hit in however, his opponent had already sprung into action.

"Rankyaku," DS Anonymous said as he kicked his right leg in a vertical arc just as Naruto backed away, only to be knocked away by a blue shockwave attack that seemed to come out of his leg. Our orange-clad ninja was sent rolling back a few feet, but quickly whipped out his Buster and began charging.

"Let's see how you like this!" Naruto said as the whirring of his buster reached its peak. "Charge Shot!"

The next moment however, instead of a single blast coming out of his buster, six third-sized shots launched from the barrel all at once. When Naruto looked at the roulette on his weapon, he saw that it now had the image of a vertical energy shot on it, scattering into six shots in the middle of the picture.

"Well wadya know. Looks like this thing's evolving along with my own skills," Naruto said with a smirk as DS Anonymous took to the air to avoid the shots. _Now that he's in the air, he can't dodge my next attacks, _ he thought as he raised his blaster, changing it to shuriken ammo. "Shuriken Shot!"

"Geppou," DS Anonymous said as the projectiles came at him, his body suddenly bouncing out of the way as a ring of smoke appeared where his right foot was moments before, the sound of an air cannon going off as the black stars passed where he was a second ago.

"What? Oh come on! You can change direction in mid-air too?" Naruto said in shock before firing more shots.

"That's not all this form can do," DS Anonymous said as he suddenly shot over Naruto's head with another geppou, then shot straight down, spinning in mid-air and landing on his feet with his fists reared back.

"Rokougan," DS Anonymous said as he thrust both his fists forward, a shockwave passing through Naruto's body before he himself was knocked backwards, bits of data spewing out of his mouth and chest as he applied chakra to the ground to stop his movement.

For a minute Naruto coughed a bit as he tried to regain his senses, not completely compliant with letting the limits of his physical body go as he tried to get used to his nonexistent limits. After a few minutes he finally got to his feet, his lips curling into a smug grin.

"It's time for an old favorite," Naruto said as he brought his hands out in a familiar cross-tiger sign. "MULTI SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

The next moment, the entire area was shrouded in smoke. When it cleared, the area was now filled with orange-clad ninja-navis, a determined look on everyone of their faces as they readied their blasters, setting them to either kunai, shuuriken, paper bomb, flash bomb, or energy blast ammunition.

"Ha! Now you're surrounded!" Naruto said confidently, the two hundred ninety nine clones surrounding the ninja. Since coming to the cyber world, he's been able to pass his former 199 clone limit and made it 299 clones. It cost a whole lot more chakra now, and at this point, this would be the second-to-last jutsu he could pull for the day until he got some rest. "Let's see you stop all of us now!"

The next moment, dozens of Scatter Shots began flying straight towards Anonymous, entire walls of blue energy flying at him, though he remained perfectly composed which caused Naruto to become concerned as his opponent opened his mouth to speak.

"Kami-e," DS Anonymous droned with eyes closed as the walls of projectiles came right at him. The next moment, his body gained the consistency of paper waving through the breeze as it inadvertently weaved between the hundreds of shots coming at him all at once, the shadow clones paling as they were pelted by each other's shots, a massive ring of smoke surrounding DS Anonymous as his body finally regained its normal consistency.

"Hm. So he wasn't among any of them," he then stated simply as he crossed his arms, a whirling sound meeting his ears from behind. He lazily turned his head to the side, the smokescreen parting in a circular pattern as an enraged blond coming at him with a spiraling sphere in his hand.

"This'll show you to take me seriously!" Naruto shouted as he thrust his right palm forward. "RASENGAN!"

The next moment, DS Anonymous brought his left hand out, catching the sphere in his palm. The moment that Naruto had smirked, having succeeded in landing a blow, DS Anonymous suddenly clamped his fingers into the sphere, his hand spinning wildly a moment along with the spiraling of the sphere until it's duration ended, DS Anonymous straightening his hand and wrist as Naruto leapt back.

"What the- How'd you spin your hand around like that?" Naruto said in shock. "Even though I haven't seen anyone breach the rasengan before, that should've snapped your wrist a dozen times over."

"Like I said, the laws of physics don't apply in the cyber world," DS Anonymous stated. "Neither do the laws of _anatomy_. After all, when a navi gets cut, they don't bleed blood. Merely data, and it just floats away instead of dripping down, since gravity doesn't technically exist either. Once you can overcome that hurdle, you'll become even stronger in this world. Of course, you shouldn't neglect your human body either."

"Drat! I thought I had you!" Naruto cursed.

"Eh, I wouldn't say that. After all, you did manage to land a blow on me," DS Anonymous smirked as he returned to normal. "Now I don't have to kick your butt anymore, and you can go home," he stated. "Orange Boy," he added with a smug grin.

"Man that's a relie-" Naruto started, but was suddenly interrupted mid-sentence as something flew into his mouth and down his throat, Anonymous holding a straw to his lips with his right hand as he waved goodbye with his left, blackness filling his vision until he blacked out.

* * *

The next moment, Naruto felt that odd 'being-sucked-through-a-straw' sensation as he suddenly found himself back in the living room, Jasmine, Meddy, and Iris still resting on him as though nothing happened.

"_Woah? Was that all a dream or something?_" Naruto whispered to himself.

"No. It wasn't. Good night," Anonymous said as he appeared on the monitor, then aimed a remote from the other side of the screen and turned it off.

Naruto shook his head as he felt his fatigue catching up to him. "_Man, I'm beat._"

The next moment he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**Omake  
Setting: NME HQ Island (10:35 PM)**

**The sun had set in the distance many hours ago, and even though everyone else was asleep, Onii-San continued to walk along the shores. Occasionally he would go back inside to get some water, maybe a snack, but otherwise, he'd just walk the perimeter of the island.**

**For the past week, since Arma Geddeon had appeared and called out his life like that, nearly killing MegaMan and company, that guy's image would flash in front of his eyes every few hours or so, as would that of a young woman with blond hair behind him.**

_**These images… What are they? **_**Onii-San thought as he continued to walk, the ocean waves licking at his heels as the tide ebbed and flowed. **_**I know my memory isn't exactly the best when it comes to my past, but… Could I have really done something bad enough to warrant someone trying to**_** kill**_** me over it?**_

**His thoughts were interrupted by a tiny squeak that came from around the corner of the shore.**

**He quickly ran around the shore, following where the squeak had come from. When he had, he came across a fairly-large piece of driftwood on the shore. On it was a small rodent-like creature with light-yellow fur, diamond shaped ears with black markings along the edges, a black collar-like mark around its neck along with a small black zigzag tail. It had a small nose almost like a dot, and had pink circles over its cheeks. A pair of blue swimmer's glasses were strapped over its head as well.**

"**Are you okay?" Onii-San asked as he cradled the tiny creature in his arms.**

" **. . . chuuuu . . . " the small creature squeaked weakly.**

"**Hmmm…" Onii-San said as he placed the back of his hand under the creature's chin, then on the top of its head. "You have a fever, and you look exhausted," he said as he turned to the piece of driftwood. ****As Onii-San held the creature in his arms, he noticed that the lenses on its goggles had been broken. After delicately removing the broken glass, he headed for the island's interior. **"**Come on. Let's get you inside. A little water, food, and rest should fix you right up," he said as he disappeared into the tree line. "All of a sudden, I don't like being out in the open," he said as he looked around him.**

_**That's right traitor. Run away. Once I find you, you'll pay for what you have done. That pitiful creature was a brief and noncomparable example to what I will do to you when once more we meet, **_**an ethereal voice said as it drifted across the wind. **

**A moment later it was gone.**

* * *

**Author's Note:  
My reason for the interpretations made in this chapter is related to the power of CrossFusion. When a human and netnavi conflict with one another, their power becomes unstable until it collapses on itself.**

**So, naturally, since Naruto exists as a human in the cyber world, it should make sense that since he wasn't built in with a limited set of specifications, that things such as agility, strength, speed, etc., can be manipulated into his favor, like in The Matrix (the computer system in the movie, not just the movie itself).**

**Also, someone a while back said Naruto's outfit should be changed when he's in the Cyber World (though I don't remember who exactly). Anyway, I thought this would be a good time to do so. His outfit is like his normal one, but is a mix between the baggy outfit and the spandex outfit that Lee/Gai wear, making it more form-fitting (but nowhere near the extent of Konoha's "Green Beasts"), and the headband goes all the way around his head not in a knot, but like a wide-diameter pipe had been placed over his head and tightened. His ears are just beneath the pipe behind a pair of NaviMarks just like the ones on his chest, just to say that detail in case someone wants to know.**

**Disclaimer:  
I do not own The Matrix. Some of the Matrix-related info may or may not be correct.  
I also do not own One Piece, any of its characters, etc.**


	10. Ninja Training cont

**Hey all! Sorry for the wait! Busy year for me, but I finally managed to Update. Hope you like this story ripe with pseudo-crossovers. While not as "serious" as my other works, this falls under the Parody genre for a reason. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter, as well as the references made.**

* * *

It had been a week or so since Naruto had entered the "Training Matrix" as he put it, though not to anyone else apart from himself since that would sound crazy even by _their _standards. While what he learned would help him greatly, it wasn't something he'd mention unless he had to. I mean, how would Chaud take it if he found out that there was pill-based technology for separating a person's mind from their body and putting it in the Cyber World? The guy was way too serious all the time, and to tell the truth, was starting to remind him of Sasuke. And not in the good way. Was there _even _a good way for someone to be like Sasuke? After getting himself settled into the new world after that familiar-looking figure appeared before him, he'd decided to live his life the way he wanted it, forming new bonds and protecting them all from anything that would threaten them. Besides, what good would it do him to try and find a way back home when he'd been assured by _someone important_, that everything was A-ok. Haku and Zabuza, or at least their reincarnations, had managed to teach him the last of what they had to teach, and while they couldn't teach him any Water Relese ninjutsu, the practical skills he'd learned would help him out in the long run.

For the most part, things were relatively normal for all involved. Everyone went to school, did their homework, busted viruses, netbattled, the works. It was after this time that one day he received close to a dozen emails telling him to meet them at Yai's house, saying they had something to show him. With his quota of Commander Fish photos met for the month and rent paid to the Hikari Family, the blond headed off to the big-foreheaded girl's estate _–though he'd never say it to her face- _to see what everyone wanted of him. He'd recently been working on a rapid-movement technique that could make his body disappear in a flicker of movement to the untrained eye, and he had been looking for a good opportunity to try it out.

* * *

"Mmmm. Where _is _he? He was supposed to be here half an _hour _ago!" Yai huffed in her estate's gym a couple hours after school. Lan, Dex, Tory, Maylu, Yai, Iris, and Jasmine, were all waiting in the middle of the gym waiting for the intrepid blond to arrive. Off to the side, Megumi, Rain, and Hub, AKA Medi, Roll, and MegaMan, all stood off to the side awaiting the blond's arrival as well. It was a few minutes past five o'clock later that the big-foreheaded girl suddenly looked up, catching a spot of orange at the rafters. "Naruto! What're you doing up there?"

"Just waiting to see how long it'd take you to spot me," the blond said with a two-fingered salute. "Be down in a sec," he said before he suddenly disappeared in a blur of lines, suddenly appearing in front of the standing group, a cluster of leaves spiraling around him as he landed in a crouch much to the others' surprise. "So, what'd you want to see me for?"

"Whoa, how'd you do that? You're like some kind of _ninja_!" Tory cried out in shock, only to realize he had said that out loud. "Um… That sounded alot smarter before I said it out loud," he murmured to himself.

"A new technique I've been working on, but I can't get that far with it," Naruto said adjusting his hitae-ate on his head. At the moment he was wearing an orange shirt with a red spiral on the front, white cargo shorts that stopped just below the knees, and his blue open-toed sandals. This is what he would consider his "default" outfit, since Lan, Dex, and Tory seemed to have _several _copies of the outfits they wore regularly. If they wore-and-_washed _the same outfit all the time, their clothing would wear out, so it was obvious they'd have what some called, a "Doug Funnie Closet". "So. What did you want to show me?" he asked, the group flashing through a number of handsigns before calling out-

"Clone Jutsu!" A moment later the gymnasium around them was covered in a veil of smoke. When it cleared, it revealed that everyone had created at least three clones, though with varying results. Lan's clones were a tad bloated, and while Dex's clones were a tad skinny, Tory's at least looked like him though they were a bit wavy. Obviously, the girls had gotten better results since they typically had better control, theirs nearly perfect apart from a couple cosmetic details like their hair or accessories.

"So are you going to teach us some more ninja stuff or what?" Lan asked excitedly, his clones mirroring his actions. While he had _that _part down, it didn't change the fact that the clones wouldn't fool a ten year-old.

"Meh. I actually started this on a whim. I never actually thought you'd get it," the blond said shrugging his shoulders, causing the group to faceplant. "_But_, I may as well see this through to the-" he said before his PET Watch began going off, pulling up a holographic screen to see who was sending him a message. When the prompt Orange Boy came up, he quickly shut off the holographic screen. "Go back to what you were doing before calling me here. I have to contemplate the next phase of your training," the blond said exiting the gym in a blur of speed, leaving a greatly-confused group behind.

* * *

Appearing in Yai's treehouse _–jokingly called a "pterodactyl birdhouse", whatever _that _was-, _the blond pulled up his Inbox again before bringing up the email sent to Orange Boy. Opening it up, the prompt NME came up on a silver screen, the blond opening the message as he thought back to the limousine ride he received on his way to cash in on his alter ego. At least it wasn't a _criminal _organization mind you.

**FLASHBACK**

"I have called you here today because I need help with an important project," Onii-San said. "It's very important for the future of the world that it be completed before my time comes."

"Well what is it?" Naruto asked. "And don't you have people of your own to help with this?"

"While I have people to help me with this," Onii-San admitted, "I'm going to need someone on the _outside_ to help with the more… public aspects of this. You're the only one I can really turn to."

"Outside?" Naruto asked tilting his head to the side, wondering about that choice of words.

"I'm trying to keep NME's involvement with global affairs a secret lest we cause turmoil, and some of us can't be seen working out in the open for prolonged periods due to risk of being recognized," Onii-San explained. "However, you've become part of a very important crowd, so that's why I've come to you."

"Speaking of which, why don't you just ask the Net Saviors directly?" Naruto asked.

Onii-San shook his head. "What I am talking about needs to be left intact for future generations to use. There are things out there you just wouldn't understand, and the next generation is going to need all the help it can get. Besides, the fewer people that know about what I'm hunting, the better. Plus, if the Net Saviors found out about this, there isn't any guarantee they'd just leave this kind of power alone. Most likely, they'd just abuse it, much like that doctor who tried to mess with your blood and turn himself into some kind of _Super Soldier_. Oh, what was his name? Dr. Foxx?"

Naruto digested the information and knew Onii-San was right. More often than not, people tended to abuse power that was placed in front of them. He'd heard about the times that Lan had gotten a big head when he had the newest PET before anyone else and had almost gotten MegaMan deleted. If someone like Onii-San was interested in _stopping _something from being abused, it was probably a good idea to listen. Of course, Dr. Foxx from Grave turning himself into a crazy-ass monster also helped the sentiment get across.

"Okay. So what're you talking about?" Naruto asked.

"I need your help in retrieving three very powerful items," Onii-San said as he pulled out a folder. "For the time being, they've been classified under the codename, OOPArts."

"OOPArts?" Naruto asked.

"Out Of Place Artifacts," Onii-San said. "There are three of them from what I can tell, and it is imperative that they not be discovered by humanity until the time is right."

"Well what are they?" Naruto asked.

"I don't have their exact locations at the moment. However, rest assured, I will contact you once I find something tangible."

**FLASHBACK END**

"OOPArt: Shuriken…?" Naruto read aloud with a raised eyebrow, the attached picture bearing the silhouette of a four-pronged shuriken with a white question mark in the center. "Huh. I didn't _know _they had ninja villages out here. Then again, they _are _ninja villages, so of course they won't be out in the open where everyone can _see _them," he said looking over the details of the message. "Hm. This all actually works out pretty well for me. A ninja village in the modern world is the perfect place for the next phase of their training. Not that _I _got too far, but still…" he trailed off as he made his way back to the others.

* * *

"Where do you think Naruto went?" Maylu asked back in the gym.

"No idea. I couldn't even track his _movement_," Lan said shrugging his shoulders.

"Hey. I'm back."

"EYAAH!" everyone cried when the blond suddenly appeared behind them. "DON'T DO THAT!" they all shrieked.

"Sorry, my bad," Naruto said waving his hand. "Anyway, after visiting the Birdhouse of Solitude-"

"You mean my tree house?" Yai cut in.

"Aaanyway, there's a ninja village a train ride away from where we are now somewhere in central Japan. It'll take a full day by train and foot to get there, but if we leave right after school before our next break, we should be able to get there and back before anyone notices we're gone," Naruto summarized.

"And you would know this _how_?" Lan asked, Naruto sinking his brow condescendingly causing the brunette to blush sheepishly. "Oh. Yeah. _That_."

"I think a _duh _is in order," Maylu sighed, wishing Lan would simply think before he speak. Would save him the trouble of shoving his foot in his mouth.

"Riiight... Anyway, pack your gear for an extended trip. I'm going to see about getting us some train tickets," he said walking off. "Oh, and guys, be sure to pack hiking boots. Where _we're _going is… a little off the beaten path," he said implying a long trip as he headed out the door. "One more thing," he said getting their attention once more. "If you can't even _make _it to the ninja village, you don't deserve to train there, and I'm going to leave you out in the middle of the wilderness with the snakes, the boars, the bears, and the mountan lions," he said letting the message hang in the air, a shudder going up the other's spine with how casually he said that.

* * *

A few days later and the best "we're all going camping" excuse the ninja and ninja trainees could muster, and the group had taken the bullet train that went the farthest north they could find. Passing by Mt. Fuji and ignoring many "Are we there yet?"s, all packed lightly with hiking boots on their feet, Naruto mulled over his meeting he had with Onii-San's personal assistant, who had approached him shortly after he departed from the Ayanokoji residence. Onii-San himself would not be present where he could be seen, which given he would be hiding at a ninja village wasn't really that much of a stretch. Instead, the blond had been given a small chrome cylinder with a pop-off top, which underneath concealed a red button that would act as a silent beacon. This was not to be activated until Naruto had come across the OOPArt, which was theorized to give off unique radio waves that, while powerful, were not harmful or radioactive. Because of that, it was also untraceable to conventional sensors, so all he had was a vague idea of where it was; the Ninja Village somewhere in central Japan.

Getting off the bullet train in the farthest town north of its route, Yai had piled everyone -_which comprised of Naruto himself, Lan, Dex, Maylu, Tory, Yai, Iris, Jasmine, Megumi/Medi and Rain/Roll, Hub/MegaMan having to stay behind at Scilab so their absence wouldn't be noticed immediately_- into a taxi and had them dropped off at the point closest to the mountains they could, which was a 24-Hour Hop Mart in the middle of nowhere. Getting their snacks in, the blond then lead everyone through the mountains, passing obstacles like snakes, rushing rivers, and even a rickety old rope bridge. By the end of it however, no one having had the guts to pass out and be left alone in the wilderness like the blond had _implied _he'd leave them if they didn't make the cut, they had finally arrived.

"There it is!" Naruto said pointing forward dramatically, the group's eyes landing on what appeared to be a large Japanese mansion with white walls and dark blue tiles, two golden catfish statues on the roof. There appeared to be a large number of pipes connecting to the house from the ground, implying it was powered geothermally. Given how far off the grid it was, that wasn't so much a stretch as was to be believed. "However, it seems more like a ninja _mansion _than ninja _village_," he then noted.

The next moment there was a puff of smoke a few meters in front of the group, which eventually cleared to reveal an athletically-built blond with wild spiky hair, two lochs of hair framing the sides of his face, with a blue headband bearing a meal plate keeping the bangs from his eyes. He was wearing a dark blue gi with the sleeves rolled up, dark blue baggy pants, black ninja tabi, and reed sandals. He wore black leather forearm and shin armor, and beneath his gi he wore a mesh shirt.

"Uwah! Who are you?" Lan suddenly blurted out.

"I am presently the 128th leader of the Tougarashi-style Ninjutsu School," the spiky-haired man stated in introduction. "Minato Namikaze -de osaru," he introduced forming a one-handed Ram sign.

"Minato… Namikaze…" Naruto said looking at the man, as did everyone else.

"You there… You look oddly familiar," the spiky-haired man said getting a better look at Naruto.

"Yeah. Have you tried a mirror?" Maylu asked. "The two of you are practically identical."

"Hmmmm…" Naruto and Minato said as they examined one another. "I don't see it," the two then said dismissively with a shrug of their shoulders, causing everyone to facefall. "So, what business brings you here to my ninja mansion so far from mainstream civilization?" Minato then asked.

"We're here to take the introductory course on how to be ninja," Naruto announced, since in all things ninja he was the representative of their group. Not that it was that much of a _contest _mind you.

"I see. Well, I can't just turn away such promising prospects now can I?" the man asked aloud. "Very well. After we get your new wardrobe settled, we will begin training immediately."

"Wait, wardrobe? What's wrong with what we're wearing now?" Yai asked motioning to her dress, which was not only fashionable, but practical as well.

"Really? You're here to learn to be ninja, and you have to ask _that_?" both Minato and Naruto asked with the same deadpanned expressions. The _exact _same deadpanned expressions.

"There it is! How can you not _see _it!" Maylu shouted pointing to the two whose deadpanned expressions looked almost exactly the same. However, she was promptly ignored as everyone went in, the red-head fuming before she walked past the gates as well.

* * *

"I must admit, I didn't think I'd be getting so many new students in one day –de osaru," the man known as Minato stated off-handedly standing outside the changing booths, the majority of the group wearing stereotypical ninja garb with fishnet underarmor and hooded hats with blank plates over their forheads, attire colored to the individual's own tastes; Lan wore blue, Dex wore yellow, Tory wore light blue, Maylu wore pink, Yai wore red with yellow dragon designs _–ever the rich-girl she be-_, Iris wore violet, Jasmine wore purple, Megumi wore white, while Rain wore pink with yellow accents.

Naruto on the other hand, stepped out of the changing room in an outfit similar to the one he had been wearing when he had been dropped in a side trashcan in the cyber world. The only difference was that this outfit had been re-sized to accommodate his recent growth spurt, and the blues were replaced with black, while the orange was replaced with a darker burnt shade, as so it wouldn't hurt when you looked directly at him. The cloth of his hitae-ate had even been replaced with a black cloth, the sashes billowing in the wind behind him.

"Yeah, well... Wait, _so many_? So there are others then?" Naruto asked when he caught the full meaning of the man's words.

"Oh yes, two kunoichi-prospects appeared to me earlier today and have taken to their lessons like ducks to water –de osaru," the man noted as he lead the group of ten past the ninja mansion's back gates and to an open training field, which Naruto reminisced in its resemblance to Konoha Training Grounds 7 where it all started.

_Ah, good times,_ Naruto noted to himself, only for the whistling of metal through the air to catch his attention. Backpedaling with arms spread, he forced the others back in time for Minato's flanks to be riddled with a dozen throwing stars. Screams leapt out of the ninja-trainee's throats, only for Minato's body to be replaced with a log wearing the same gi that he had in a cloud of smoke, a caricature of his face tacked onto the front of the log as it dropped to the ground.

"Whoa! He just used the ninja art of substitution!" Tory gaped in awe as, from the brush, the sound of a struggle echoed the air from one direction before coming from another, a pair of figures being punted into the clearing while Minato re-appeared before the group with crossed arms.

"Very good girls. You almost got me that time –de osaru," the blond-haired man said with a chuckle as he addressed the two... scantily-dressed kunoichi before him. True to form their outfits were designed to distract by way of seduction, however the ninja veteran appeared to be unperturbed as the two got out of what would normally be a blush-inducing tangle on the ground.

The one to get up first was a woman with blond hair, tied back in a ponytail, with her features obscured by a red mask, a metal plate on her forehead. Her upper body was clad in a fishnet suit, a red tank top that looked a size too small covering her perky chest. Her skirt, if you could call it that, may as well have been a belt with how cropped it was, a pair of lacy black panties visible beneath a pair of fishnet shorts, a pair of red high-heeled sandals made of rubber like his own on her feet. Her eyes were a stark contrast to the outfit she wore, colored a sky blue, her eyelashes quite long.

The second one had dark blue hair with streaks of pink in it, her hair braided behind her, and her features obscured by a dark blue mask, a metal plate on her forehead as well. Her figure wasn't as perky as the blond's, but her chest filled out the tank top she wore over her own fishnet shirt pretty well, though more conservatively than her friend. She wore a skirt that stopped mid-thigh, sporting a pair of bicycle shorts and dark blue sandals resembling pumps, a pair of white and dark-blue-striped stockings on her legs. Her eyes too contrasted the outfit she wore, colored a light teal color, a bit of mascara around her eyes.

"Doesn't change the fact you did that shitty log trick," the blond huffed. "Not that I'd mind seeing _your _log, heheheh," she said in a mirthful tone, giving the man a flirty wink, while the others gagged at the innuendo.

"I'm flattered, but unfortunately I'm married to my work –de osaru," the man replied.

"Pheh. Just another way of sayin' you don't wanna get laid," the blond huffed.

"Oh like he wants _used merchandise_," the pink-highlighted girl huffed in return.

"Um, question," Tory asked cutting into the conversation. "What exactly will we get to _prove _that we're ninja?"

"Well, apart from the skills of a ninja," the blond said as he dug into his gi. "You will receive this Spring Roll scroll as proof of completing your training –de osaru!" he said hoisting what appeared to be a simple black scroll to the heavens, the wooden peg on the side glinting in the afternoon light as though it were polished.

"So what do we do then?" Maylu asked.

"If you hit me with the shuriken I've given you, or grab me, you will receive the Spring Roll –de osaru," the blond announced. In retaliation, Tory leapt up and flicked a storm of shuriken at the blond, only for the throwing stars to miss dismally. Tears streaming down his face, Yai threw trio of shuriken, only for Dex to lunge at him at the same interval. Vaulting over his head, Minato left Dex's backside to be riddled by the throwing stars, eliciting a loud shriek from him.

"This is going to take forever," the blond sighed as he unzipped his jacket and sat against the side of a tree, content to simply watch his "students" flail about angrily. At the same time the two kunoichi from before sat down to his left, watching as well.

"So what are you? Their babysitter?" the blond kunoichi asked aloud.

"I guess..." the blond sighed, since he'd had to "defeat" that snake that had snuck up on them on their way up before he could get them to go another step.

"Well, when in doubt, eat candy," the darkly-dressed kunoichi said in return as she broke a chocolate bar in half before shoving it into her mouth from underneath her mask. Though the blond asked for some, the kunoichi shook her head before finishing, the blond sighing dismally before going back to watching his students make complete and utter fools of themselves. Hell, none of their shuriken were even _hitting _the guy. _This is going to be a looong day... _

* * *

After an hour of so of next-to-no progress being made, Minato pulled his troop of students aside after they'd thoroughly exhausted themselves.

"Enough of me standing around, you'll have to chase me down if you want that Spring Roll –de osaru," Minato said as he ran off, the group chasing him into the mountains. The first obstacle was a field of waist-high grass, the wind in their faces as they ran. While it seemed they'd matched the man's speed, he simply shot ahead once more, the only ones capable of keeping up being Naruto and the red-clad kunoichi.

Next came the man running up a vertical incline that tipped backwards even more, the troop running up it only for all to fall, the only exception being Naruto who managed to walk up the wall using his chakra, whereas the others had to hastily climb the wall to keep up. Being led into a clearing surrounded by forests, the troop attacked everything around them with shuriken, only for the man to drop a tarp with bark-like camouflage from himself before running off. After several more minutes of running, they'd been lead to a rising slope set in the bottom of a gorge, rock faces on their left and right.

"Man, this guy just keeps going and going..." Lan huffed as they stopped at the bottom of the incline.

"This guy's speed is just ridiculous," Maylu panted.

"Hey Naruto, couldn't you catch up to the guy like _that_?" Yai asked snapping her fingers.

"Maybe, but what would the rest of you do without me holding your hands along the way? Heck, if I weren't taking the lead you would've lost him _ages _ago," the blond retorted.

"I guess you're right," Tory said dismally in response. "Look! There he is!" he said pointing up to the top of the incline, the man's arms crossed over his chest as he'd finally stopped running.

"Hey! I'm over here! Come now, don't tell me that's all you have –de osaru!"

"He's taunting us!" the red-clad kunoichi shrieked.

"Let's get him!" Jasmine shouted, the troop of ten storming up the hill. When they got halfway up however, Minato had suddenly pulled a round boulder up from his left side, rolling it down the hill causing everyone to go- "Uweeeeh!" –before running down the hill at breakneck speeds.

"Holy _crap_! How are we supposed to stop that thing!?" Lan cried in panic as he ran.

"There! On the boulder! A bulls-eye!" Yai cried as the red-and-white bullseye flickered into view.

"Are we supposed to hit it?" Dex asked in shock as they ran.

"Don't worry! I've got this!" Tory said drawing his shuriken, eyes narrowing before he let a handful of throwing stars fly with a loud- "HA!" -, only for them all to bounce off. Turning on his heel and running, he inadvertently tripped over a rock.

"Your sacrifice will not be in vain!" Dex shouted over his shoulder as the boulder ran Tory over, only for him to be stuck to the side spread-eagle.

"Someone want to try that again?" Naruto asked.

"NO!" Tory cried vehemetly from his spot on the rock, his legs spread with his "manly bits" directly above the bullseye.

"I'll be heading towards the river in the east –de osaru!" Minato called out from the top of the cliff before running off, the troop throwing themselves in opposite directions as soon as they got out of the gorge, though Tory wasn't as fortunate, and was carried quite a way, bouncing off several trees as he rolled downhill.

* * *

"How do we keep landing ourselves in situations like this!-?" Iris cried as she and the rest of the troop drifted down-stream, ninja-water-shoes on their feet keeping them afloat.

"Wait, I just thought of something!" Jasmine cried over the roaring of the river. "He never said we _had _to use the ninja-water-shoes! He just said we had to get across the river right?"

"Oh crap!" Lan cried as he looked over his shoulder, a waterfall roaring at their backs, the group screaming as they strode upstream as fast as they could, the only ones able to avoid falling over the edge of the cliff being Naruto, the two scantily-clad kunoichi, Megumi, Rain, and Iris after Naruto grabbed her hand at the last second.

"Geez, I never remembered training being so... spontaneous," Naruto sighed under the shade of a tree as the others fell into the large body of water below.

* * *

"Man, we are so freakin' lost..." Dex groaned as he and Lan walked up the hill, having been left behind by the others after Naruto told them everyone was heading back to the Ninja Mansion and that it would be dark soon.

"How on Earth are we supposed to keep up with that blonde guy? It's impossible," Lan groaned.

"We can't even keep up with _our _blond guy," Dex groaned, his stomach growling causing him to fall to his knees. "Man... I'm so hungry..."

"Hopefully we'll have dinner waiting for us back at the Ninja Mansion," Lan groaned as he and Dex suddenly found themselves in the middle of a large clearing. "Hey look! Through the trees! We're almost there!"

"Look! Lunch!" Dex shouted pointing on top of a large boulder with a braided rope bearing paper tags around it, a pair of bento on the top of it. "Quick! Give me a boost! I'm starving!"

"Hey, you need to give _me _the boost!" Lan argued. "I'm the green salad, you're the all-you-can-eat buffet!"

After several minutes of arguing, before the to decided to agree to disagree, Lan managed to climb up the side of the rock, and the two enjoyed a bento each, filling their empty stomach, blissfully unaware of the angry black and red spirits bubbling beneath the shrine they'd just disturbed.

* * *

"Man... Why can't I hit anything?" Tory asked as the sun began to set in the distance, none of his shuriken hitting the targets set out for them to use.

"You've only been using those things for a few hours. Of _course _you won't be hitting anything," Maylu huffed as she took a deep breath, drawing back her hand before firing a single shuriken, actually _hitting_ the target and pumping her fist in victory.

"It's just like throwing Frisbees, only smaller and they're made of metal," Megumi added as she sent another into the target. "And they have points. Kinda important."

"Yes, we get it. They're pointy metal Frisbees," Rain sighed as she let another few fly. Throwing stars and arrows were two entirely different things after all. _Come to think of it, maybe I should take up archery. Now that I have an actual body and all._

"When're we going to eat? I haven't had anything to eat since the snake jumped us," Yai huffed angrily.

"Hey guys. We're back," Lan said running into the gate, wiping the corner of his mouth with his sleeve. Before Maylu could ask why he did that however, Minato came up to them with a small bag in his hand.

"Alright students, for those of you that didn't bring your own food, I'll provide you with a Sup, or in other terms, a ninja's emergency rations –de osaru," Minato said jostling the contents of the bag in his hand, while motioning to the two scantily-clad kunoichi, who were off to the side eating their own meals; the blond was eating take-out Mexican with lots of hot sauce, while the pink-highlighted one ate what appeared to be a chocolate death cake. "Eat up, curfew will be in one hour, so I expect you to be in your rooms by the times those gates close –de osaru," he said tossing a single brown-colored pill to everyone that didn't have something of their own to eat.

"Where exactly _are _we staying?" Naruto asked. While the others had been outside training with shuriken and Minato had been overseeing them, the second-shortest blond had sent squads of Shadow Clones into the Ninja Mansion, as to comb it top to bottom to find the OOPArt that Onii-San's intell had said would be there; theoretically. Once everyone got settled in for the night, especially Minato, it'd be practically impossible for them to move about, and he did _not _want to go out of his way to find this thing that the enigma saw as so important if he had to visit a second time, where Minato's attention would be more focused on him.

"Boy's rooms will be on the left, women's on the right, whereas mine will be upstairs in a place untrained shinobi cannot get to it –de osaru," Minato answered before he looked out in the distance, his eyes narrowing as a feeling of dread welled up in the pit of his stomach.

"Minato, is something the matter?" Maylu asked after biting down onto her food ration, washing the bitter taste down with some water.

"Hopefully it's nothing –de osaru," the man answered, Naruto unknowingly flicking open the trigger in his pocket and pressing the button twice.

* * *

That night as the sun went down, Naruto laid down on his mat as he faced the ceiling, eyes closed as he tried to stretch his senses as far as he could whilst ignoring the snores of those on the opposite side of the room from them. Tory and Lan snored like gravel in a blender while Dex didn't; who knew?

Now, according to the block of instructions for the NME Beacon he was given, there was a small list of commands set to non-audio-based communications. Two clicks meant the mission objective had been secured. Four clicks meant "abort mission", one click was meant to give GPS coordinates, while three meant "I need backup". If you stopped to think about it, it made _some _sense, but this was obviously a means of non-interceptable communication still in the beta stages of development.

It was he heard the sound of a window opening on one of the upper floors and someone leaving the building, that he slipped out from beneath his mattress and left a Shadow Clone in his place. Making sure the coast was clear, the blond made his way up to the top of the Ninja Mansion, where the sounds from outside got less and less prevalent. Arriving at the topmost room, most likely set for important meetings and the like, the blond went over to the cooking pit set off to the side of the room before he began digging, his hand brushing against something cool and metallic after a few seconds. Pulling it up, it appeared to be a large shuriken made of green metal, bearing angular lines around the ends while pairs of lines were drawn from the outside and into the center. Strangely enough, the metal appeared to be glowing, yet was giving off no heat, a strange energy resonating with his own.

Before he lost himself in the strange, foreign allure of the OOPArt: Shuriken and was caught red-handed, he clicked the Beacon he was given, the button glowing red before dying down. Slapping it with his hands wondering if it was broken, the sound of footsteps behind him alerted him to the fact that someone had gotten behind him. Turning around, a sigh of relief left his lips as he saw the human enigma walking towards him, hood up and hands in his pockets.

"I see you found the OOPArt: Shuriken," Onii-San said as he eyed the Out Of Place Artifact warily, then nodded before looking around the room. "Now then... Where to hide this thing where it won't be found by accident, but only when someone _has _to..." he wondered as he traced his hand along the wall, his fingers slipping behind a banner with the kanji for **Mu Ari**, or **"Mu Here"**, on the banner. "Yes... Yes this should work," he said shoving the banner to the side, pulling it up revealing a hidden passageway. "What're you just standing there for? We need to get moving," the brunette said motioning to the secret tunnel, the blond following behind with OOPArt in hand. Huffing in response to being bossed around, the blond slipped his fingers around the edge of the center hole before following behind, the banner behind them glowing slightly along the edges with chakra as it re-sealed itself.

* * *

At the same time downstairs, everyone had been sleeping soundly, resting from the fatigues of shinobi life before the sound of wood and stone being kicked in suddenly sounded through the night. Jolting up from bed, everyone sans Naruto rushed outside to see what was going on, eyes widening as a slightly-injured Minato had fallen to one knee. Across from him was a small army of vaguely-humanoid figures, their bodies covered entirely black, clad in stereotypical shinobi attire. Their bodies' "outlines" were colored red with like accents, their mouths and eyes fluctuating between a repeating gradient of yellow, yellow-orange, and yellow.

"Wh-What are those things?-!" Yai cried out in fright as the black red-accented apparitions approached them, Lan and Dex helping the man up.

"Those are the vengeful spirits of past shinobi who were unable to acquire the Tiger Roll in their lifetimes," Minato stated as he tightened his grip on a pronged kunai knife. "Still, as long as they received offerings they should've been appeased. I was sure I left the bento at the altar like normal, so what could've happened?" he asked aloud, Lan and Dex having a sinking feeling that the onslaught was somewhat _their _fault. Something Maylu caught up on almost immediately and swiftly acted upon.

"You MORONS!" she and Rain screeched as they punched the two over the head, steaming bruises forming over their heads as their eyes spun in their skulls.

"Can't you just seal them away like you did before? I mean, we kinda _did _pass a boulder with sealing tags on the way back, so that much is obvious," Tory stated.

"Wait, you didn't touch the bento?" Lan asked.

"Only an idiot messes with things that don't belong to them!" Maylu shrieked as she kicked Lan while he was down. It was her prerogative to do so whenever he did something stupid. Was it Tuesday already?

"Wh-What do we do?" Jasmine asked worrisomely. She may've gotten a bit better with her shuriken throwing, but if the scattered ninja tools and the injured Minato were anything to go by, the "vengeful spirits" couldn't be harmed by conventional attacks.

"We could try retreating back into the Ninja Mansion, but I'm unsure how long our defenses would hold out," Minato said as the group backed away towards the door, the two scantily-clad kunoichi seeming to argue amongst themselves before they seemingly came to a decision.

"Ah, screw it, let's go," the blond-haired kunoichi finally voiced aloud. The next moment twin silver poles jutting heavenwards out of the ground appeared behind them and spotlights shone down, spinning lights the color of the rainbow flaring to life and making the Ninja Mansion's courtyard resemble a nightclub as high-energy techno music inexplicably came from every direction, no source in sight. With a flick of their wrists downwards after a neon blue halo appeared over each of their heads, the two kunoichi's garb changed drastically with no feasible explanation in sight, what appeared to be a halo and large neon-blue wings appearing behind them in a flash before disappearing once more.

**Cue Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt Soundtrack – Fly Away**

The blond kunoichi's attire changed from Japanese to Greek elements, the most notable being her golden winged Hermes-like heels. Her new outfit consisted of a white puffy short-skirt, a white short blouse resembling a toga with a golden collar bearing a pink heart-shaped pendant, several golden bracelets and rings around her wrists and fingers. Lastly were the small pair of white-feathered wings jutting out of her back, and her nails which had been polished light pink.

The violet-haired kunoichi on the other hand changed into a Lolita-inspired outfit, though with drastically brighter colors than would be associated. She was now garbed in a gray/white corset-like dress bearing several blue heart-shaped emblems, a blue bow in her hair and white choker around her neck, she had light blue and white stockings above light gray high heels, arm length gloves ending at her middle finger covering her arms with silver bands on her biceps and wrists. Like her companion, she too had small white-feathered wings, nails painted dark blue.

The next moment the two leapt onto what appeared to be the _stripper poles _that inexplicably appeared out of nowhere, flashing a maneuver with legs wrapping around the shaft of polished metal that highlighted the gravity-defying properties of their hair, wings and halo once more flashing brightly. Minato had the decency to cover his eyes, while Lan, Dex, and Tory's eyes had to be covered by a flustering Maylu, Yai, and Jasmine, Iris' face turning bright red before Megumi and Rain covered them, the two wondering just what the hell was going on as the sentiment temporarily overpowered the embarrassment they felt at witnessing what most would consider such a profane act.

"**O pitiful shadow lost in the darkness. O evil spirit born of those drifting between Heaven and Earth,"** the two's voices echoed loudly as their hands roamed their bodies. **"May the thunderous power from the garments of the holy delicate maiden strike down upon you with great vengeance and furious anger, shattering your loathsome impurity and returning you from whence you came," **they continued as the blond suddenly pulled off her black lacy panties, while the violet-haired woman drew a stocking off her leg. The next moment the two held their "garments of the delicate holy maiden" out before them, both flashing neon blue as bright particles scattered around them. Spinning her hand, the blond's lacy panties suddenly turned into a white blue-highlighted semi-automatic pistol with a red bow on the end and lace patterns around the hammer, the violet-haired woman's stocking suddenly turning into a white and blue-striped katana as she ran her hand down the length.

"**Repent you mother_fuckers_!" **the two bellowed as they lashed out at the vengeful spirits with a combination of bullets and flying slashes, the Ghosts blown or shredded to pieces by the seemingly-angel's onslaught.

* * *

Meanwhile back in the secret tunnel.

"What is this thing?" Naruto asked looking at the golden spire-like structure they encountered at the end of the hall, somewhat resembling a cone-shaped cage made of hexagon-shaped bars. "It looks like some sort of radio tower."

"That isn't what we're here for," Anonymous said from the brunette's shoulder as they continued down the corridor. "We're here to hide the OOPArt and never have to worry about it in our lifetimes ever again."

"Yeah yeah, set it & forget it. Can we get going? This thing's heavier than it looks," Naruto huffed as he readjusted his grip on the Shuriken under his arm.

"Then let's conclude our business here before anyone finds us," Onii-San said as he donned two white gloves, a set of ornately-designed red circles on the palms as they made their way into a large dome-shaped chamber at the end of the tunnel, which inexplicably had its own light source. Parts of the floor were covered in hexagonal pieces of metal while the cave walls by the floor were also lined with them, evidence that this area had been reinforced in the past prevalent. As the two approached the center of the chamber, the blond noticed some discarded building materials set off to the side in the center of the room, obviously for some project that never got finished, or was just forgotten.

"So... Do I just set this thing down or what?" Naruto asked, only for the brunette to clap his hands with a loud echo, suddenly placing his palms on the ground as he kneeled. The blond shinobi nearly leapt out of his skin as arcs of blue lightning danced across the floor before a pedestal with pointed barbs at 90 degree intervals rose up from the floor, a few small arcs of lightning dancing across the stony material before the planks were tossed up as well. Repeating the process, the brunette magically turned the planks of wood into a treasure chest _just _large enough for the Shuriken to fit inside, the material shining as though it had been treated right around the time the lightning was flashing over it. "Okay what the heck is all this for, and how did you just do that?" the blond asked aloud as the brunette stepped back, popping his knuckles and neck before facing him.

"All you need to worry about is opening the chest, setting the OOPArt in, and then closing it. After that the mission will be completed, and you'll be compensated for the train and bus fare," the brunette replied.

"Alright…" Naruto said taking the large shuriken and placing it in the chest. _I'm still not too sure about this, but I have a feeling this will be important someday, _he thought to himself closing the chest. There really wasn't any need to lock it, since A) this was meant for the next generation and any key made was likely to be lost in that time, and B) there wasn't a latch to lock it onto. "There. It's done."

"Alright. Now, let's leave this place. For the next generation," he said leading Naruto back to the mouth of the cave, past the radio antenna-like structure. "Stand back, otherwise you'll get caught up in this technique," the brunette ordered, the blond stepping back as the brunette clapped his hands together, not wanting to know what would happen if he were on the business end of... _whatever _it was, the brunette was doing. In a flash, the stone at the walls suddenly sealed off the other side of the tunnel like a thick liquid, soon settling back into a ten foot-thick slab of solid stone as the last of the lightning died down. "There… It's done," he panted out, the effort of whatever it was he did _–from Naruto's perspective- _having taken a lot out of him.

"Onii-San," Naruto said as he pointed to the newly transmuted wall of stone, isolating the chamber that held the OOPArt: Shuriken from the outside world. "Why did you seal the Shuriken away? I thought you said the future generations would _need_ its power."

"They will," Onii-San answered. "If the future generations turn out how I think they will, then I don't think getting past a ton orso of stone will be a problem."

Naruto just shrugged his shoulders. "Okay…" he said with a sigh. "Still, at least I was able to help the others train a bit. I'm just glad I'm not the only ninja in this world."

"Yeah, I can sort of understand that feeling," Onii-San sighed. _In a way... sorta. _"Anyway, we should probably get going. I'll contact you later when I'm in need of your services. For now you should focus on getting the others home come morning. Okay?"

"Sure. I guess I'll see you later," Naruto sighed as the brunette reached the banner at the beginning of the tunnel. "Hey wait a minute!" he called out catching his attention right as his hand parted the seal on the banner. "Those scantily-dressed kunoichi from earlier, were they on _your _payroll?"

"Hmmm…" the brunette pondered. "Not telling. Find it out on your own," he said dropping a smoke bomb in front of himself before the sound of flapping paper met the blond's ears. Dashing out into the next room, the orange-clad ninja was apparently too late to catch up, as there was no trace of the human enigma to be found.

"That guy..." Naruto sighed, not knowing quite what to think. "Oh well. I'd better get back to bed. The others might notice I'm gone," he said with a shrug as he re-plastered the scroll onto the wall, only for the sound of gunshots to suddenly reach his ears. "What the hell?-!" he cried as he rushed out of the room, aiming for the nearest window.

* * *

Meanwhile, outside at the ninja mansion... after the two angel's vulgar declaration, they had lashed out at the Ghosts with a hailstorm of somewhat-holy bullets and air slashes, the vengeful spirits going up in smoke left and right. Though Minato's barbed kunai were able to wound them to a degree, they didn't kill them, and so they were left to the dual angels to execute. While the ninja trainees had grabbed as many shuriken as they could and threw them with reckless abandon, that ended up doing more harm than good as they were forced to run for their lives. If it was one thing ninja disliked more than being attacked from behind, it was being attacked from behind _poorly_, hence why the ninja-trainees had to run crying and screaming before the two ex-kunoich-now-angels brought them down_. _Though they could've sworn some of the bullets and air slashes had hit them, they didn't really feel anything like they had been shot or cut. Either way, they lucked out, and didn't get killed by the undead, or whatever those things were.

_**GOOOOOON GOOOOOON GOOOOOON GOOOOOON!**_

"Weird. The old church bell hasn't run in years," Minato noted aloud as the last of the Ghosts went down, the ringing of church bells echoing up the mountainside, whereas the others fell to their knees. Running and screaming really took the wind out from under one's wings.

_**TI-I-ING**_

"Only five Heavens? For that many?" the one that had wielded a striped katana asked as five golden coins with an **H** with cherub wings on their sides landed in her open palm.

"Man, what a fucking _load_," the one with the semi-automatic revolver huffed in annoyance.

"You'd know all about that wouldn't you?" the gothic girl asked as she walked off, her blond counterpart screaming obscenities. The others, who'd been running around in a panic before, were in no shape to pursue, whereas Minato simply let them go.

"Guys! What happened? I heard gunshots!" Naruto called out as he dropped down next to them.

"Naruto! Where have you been?" Maylu asked scoldingly.

"Bathroom, geez," Naruto lied smoothly. "Anyway, someone mind telling me what happened here?"

"_Someone _thought it was a good idea to disturb the vengeful spirits indigenous to this region by _eating _their offerings," Rain said glaring at Lan and Dex, the two bowing and apologizing repeatedly.

"Oh yeah. I accidentally tried that once, only it turned out to be my teacher's lunches. I got tied to a post. Wasn't fun," the blond huffed.

"Hey guys, I just noticed something," Tory said looking up. "Those two angels are gone."

"Yep. Seems as though they took my misdirection to heart and left as soon as their work was done, de-osaru," Minato stated with a shrug as all traces of the angels had disappeared. I mean come on, what else has halos and wings?

"So that's it? We aren't going to try and find out who they were?" Lan asked aloud.

"Why? Hoping for another pole dance?" Maylu asked glaring down at the brunette ominously, who could only shrink back under her piercing gaze.

"How about we all just go to bed. I'm beat," Yai said too tired to even _try _and understand what had just happened. The others somberly nodded in agreement, heading inside to catch up on some sleep before they had to leave in the morning.

* * *

The following morning after the Ghost attack on the Ninja Mansion, everyone had been given an Iron Fire Roll as proof of them completing their ninja training up to the point they had, which would act as their pass for the next time they wanted to train. If they failed to do so, they'd have to start the course over from the beginning, and it would take even _longer _to earn the Spring Rolls. It was as everyone left the Ninja Mansion gates, which closed shut behind them as Minato began to tend to the grounds, that someone decided to speak up about the events surrounding their trip there.

"Well, that was fun... I guess," Lan sighed as they headed down the mountain, only for a dismayed look to suddenly etch itself onto his features.

"Something wrong, Lan?" Maylu asked, though Naruto winched, knowing what would probably leave the NetSavior's mouth next.

"I just realized... We have to walk all the way back to the bus sto-ho-hooop!" the brunette cried as he fell to his knees, grasping the sides of his head as he cried into the heavens. Upon hearing those words, the others sans Iris, Megumi, and Rain all fell to their knees, drawing circles in the dirt with their fingers.

"He just _had _to say that out loud didn't he?" Rain sighed before she reached down and helped her NetOp up.

"Probably," Megumi sighed as she did the same with Jasmine while Naruto hoisted Yai and Tory to their feet. Lan and Dex could walk by their own power. As the group trudged back down the mountain, planning to take a long nap once they got on the train before going to school the following morning, the blond could only think to himself-

_Minato Namikaze. Could he be...? _the blond trailed off to himself, though his train of thought was lost when Dex shrieked at the presence of another snake, causing the blond to facefault. As a consequence of this action, Yai and Tory were dragged down as well.

* * *

**OMAKE: THREE DAYS PRIOR**

A couple days ago on an uncharted island out in the ocean, its current location unknown and unawares to the outside world, Onii-San and Serenity, along with Jonny and Amber in attendance stood on a secluded dock on the northeast side of the island within the crags of several crags.

While Onii-San stood at the end of the dock a good ways down from the shore, his hood up over his head, the others simply stood about and conversed.

"_What are we waiting for?"_ Amber asked in a whisper.

"_Didn't you hear? Apparently, Onii-San is having some guests over from before he _became _Onii-San,"_ Jonny whispered back.

"_What's his real name then?"_ Amber asked.

"I'm afraid that's classified information," Onii-San stated simply from the far end of the dock. _Not that I'm really allowed to _use _it anymore, but that's beside the point._

"How the hell'd you hear that? You weren't even within earshot," Amber argued loudly.

"I can read lips."

"You weren't even _looking_ at us!"

"That's a non-issue."

"_Ugh, I swear, if you and this guy hadn't gone on a killing spree and gotten me out of that hellhole, I'd be so gone," _Amber muttered to herself.

"If your brother and I, along with Naruto, hadn't gone on a _killing spree _as you put it, then you'd still be on a slab at the end of the world."

"How the hell do you keep doing that!?"

"_Shhhh,"_ Serenity hissed in a hushed tone. _"The Rainbow Mist is about to cumulate around the island."_

"_Rainbow Mist?" _Amber asked. _"What's that?"_

"Also classified," the teen answered.

"_God damn it!" _Amber cursed.

"_It would be unwise to say that sort of thing around Onii-San's guests," _Serenity stated.

"_Why? They with the church?" _she asked sarcastically.

" . . . You could say that," Onii-San simply replied. _"Anonymous. Did you have that same feeling too?"_

"_Yeah," _Anonymous said as he appeared on the inside of Onii-San's cowl. _"After you got that text, memories started coming back to me too. Could this be a result of the Void Decade?"_

"_Maybe, but I'm not certain," _Onii-San said evenly as the rainbow-colored mist began to concentrate around the island.

After a few minutes, a portion of the mist began to resemble a tunnel, a medium-sized white boat moving lazily through the water as it entered the mouth of the hidden dock. Those standing at the back simply watched in anticipation as to who could possibly be coming, since visitors of any form were a rarity for those who've been in NME for an extended period. Serenity and Jonny maintained a neutral expression, while Amber craned her neck to see what was going on.

When the white boat finally pulled up alongside the dock, a metal gangplank and railing slid down, Onii-San securing it as two figures made their way over to him.

"_Can you see them?" _Amber asked.

"_Not yet. They're still in the shadows," _Jonny said. When the two agents turned to Serenity, she simply readjusted her glasses and scribbled a few notes in her planner.

"Right this way ladies. Watch that first step," Onii-San said as he extended his hand in a gentlemanly manner, which the first figure, and then the second figure took as they were helped onto the dock. As the boat turned around, ready to leave when the time was right, the mist began to recede, giving the others a better look at Onii-San's guests.

The first to disembark was an attractive woman with a long mane of spiky blond hair extending past her waist, a fringe resembling a banana bunch brushed to the right of her face, her eyes sky blue with long eyelashes and a light pink eye shadow. Her skin was slightly tanned, nails polished a bright shade of red, with a perky, model-like figure to boot. Her attire consisted of a short sleeveless red dress with matching heels, red hoop earrings, a golden necklace, and two golden bracelets on each wrist.

The second to disembark was an equally-attractive woman with long violet-colored hair flowing down her back with pink highlights, her eyes colored teal with a touch of mascara. Her skin was slightly paler than her sister's, her chest measurements a little more filled out. Her attire consisted of a black Lolita-like dress, a blue bow in her hair, and black/blue striped stockings on her legs above black pumps. Held in her arms was a purple cat plushie with the left half of its skin missing, showing the skeleton underneath, and if you looked carefully enough, you could almost see its eyes following you around.

"Hmmm. You're all grown up. Just like Garterbelt said you were huh," the blonde said as she walked in a circle around Onii-San, eying him up and down like he were some foreign animal being examined, or a piece of meat who's value was being appraised before purchase. "What do you think sis?"

"I guess time flows differently in other worlds," the goth replied as she eyed Onii-San as well, though not as _obviously_ as her sister was. For a moment, it looked like the cat plushie in her arms was eying him too, though that may've been because of the mist creating mirage-like images along the water.

"It would appear so. You two haven't aged a bit," Onii-San said in a mixture between a relaxed and modest tone. "Jonny. Could you come over here and get these ladies' luggage while I escort them to the shuttle."

"Yes boss," Jonny said enthusiastically as he rushed onto the boat and began unloading sets of glamorous and gothic luggage, matching the two guests rather nicely if that could be said.

"What's with the hood?" the goth girl asked.

"Bad haircut?" her sister finished.

"Just waiting for it to grow back out a bit," Onii-San said with a sigh. "Long story. I'll tell you later if you're interested. Of course, I'll have to introduce you to my associates first."

"I guess," the blond replied as she turned to Jonny as he fervently unloaded luggage, almost with an inhuman fervor. "So what's the deal with him? Someone light his crotch on fire or something?"

"I uh, kinda got shot a few times because of him, and he's trying to make up for it," Onii-San said, slightly limping along. "I'm pretty much A-okay, but I may need to use crutches to ease the strain on my legs. Took a round to my shin. Had to get _that _removed. The bullet, not the shin," he amended.

"Oh, so you've actually gone out in the field?" the goth asked. "Last time I saw you, you were Garterbelt's intern, polishing the big ass cross, dusting the bibles, and sweeping the cathedral steps."

"He _almost _got you to polish his _other _big cross though didn't he?" Panty asked with a grin at the memory. Never before had she seen the afro priest struck by lightning from above before, the rolled-up note that came out of his mouth saying **NO **all the worth it.

"Well, I've been through a lot since those days," Onii-San replied. _Or at least I think I have. I've still got a few gaps in my memory, __he said rubbing his head._"Anyway, if you'll follow me, I'll show you to our base of operations," Onii-San continued as he motioned for the two new arrivals to follow after him.

"Sis. One of your bags is moving," the goth girl said flatly, pointing to one of the blond's bags, which was in fact squirming like there were something in there.

"Hmm?" the blond replied as she unzipped her bag. The next moment a little green creature resembling a dog with a zipper going from above its eyes to the back of its head and belly to its tail, the ends resembling zipper handles, with a purple collar around its neck leapt out, scurrying around the dock until its eyes landed on Onii-San. The next moment, said person found the little critter licking at his face enthusiastically, almost like in greeting, all the while the creature muttering- "Chuck" –over and over again.

"Ah! Chuck! Don't do that, it tickles," Onii-San said as he pet the little creature now known as Chuck playfully.

"Eh? I thought I left that thing at home," the blond moaned, clearly not happy to see the creature known as Chuck.

"I guess you should've put another latch on that door," the goth girl said back.

"Ah well, we're here, and I guess we should just make the most of it," the blond girl replied as though she just didn't care anymore.

"I hope he's got pudding here. I didn't have anything to eat on the boat," the goth girl said evenly.

"Is sweets all you ever think about?" the blond asked.

"Is getting _laid_ all you think about?" the goth girl retorted.

"Touché," the blond surrendered in a nonchalant tone.

"_Were they being serious or not, because I can't really tell," _Amber whispered to Serenity as the three walked to the shuttle. _"And what's that green thing?"_

"_All will be explained in due time," _Serenity answered in a hushed tone.

"_My God I'm surrounded by freaks," _Amber sighed to herself.

"You know, God has better things to do than hear you bitch about how you're surrounded by freaks," the blond said poignantly as she walked past.

Amber only sighed as she began questioning her sanity, along with her brother's as he continued carrying bags to and from the dock to the all-terrain shuttle with his inhuman fervor.

* * *

**Author's Note:  
For those of you who notice that this chapter takes cues from Ryuusei no Rockman Tribe: Episodes 13 & 14, let me remind you that this series is only separated from MegaMan Battle Network by around 100 years. The difference in the ninja mansion's leader number is a rough estimate of how many times ownership would change. As for Minato's presence there, I'll let you interpret it as you will, as I will not be delving further into it.**

**The characters Panty and Stocking (and Chuck) come from the anime that bears the same name as both of them, with the addition to an ampersand between the prior and the latter's names. Both and all references to their abilities are under the ownership of Gainax, along with several other companies & subsidiaries as well.**

**I'd also like to take the time to thank Dr. Weird for writing out this chapter with his ideas, since this story has become a collaborative work between myself and two other authors in order to diversify things. That and it's more fun to write.**


	11. Magnum Opus

"*_huff huff_* Damn Net Police…!" cried out a gorilla-like NetNavi, running along with a chimpanzee, mandrill and baboon-themed Navi.

"To think the Saru Gang could lose to a couple of swinish _fuzz_! The nerve!" seethed the baboon Navi, running on all fours.

"We've been planning this raid for so long, and it's all for nothing if we get caught!" screeched the chimpanzee.

As they ran, small data cruisers driven by generic NetPolice Navis came in hot pursuit. Suddenly, something caught the mandrill's eye; a slight reflection at human height of the face and a beckoning right hand; it was a furry hand of a silky brown, cuffed by an open white sleeve from a thin silken coat.

"In there! That alley!" yelled the mandrill. Quickly they ran in and hid behind the dumpsters along the wall. As the cruiser stopped outside the alley, the NetPolice scanned the alley with a strange blue light. After several seconds, they shrugged and continued advancing down a street.

"…Is he gone…?" cowered the chimpanzee Navi.

"I think so…" whispered the gorilla.

"But…how come they didn't detect us with that data tracer?" pondered the baboon.

"No thanks are necessary," came a carefree-sounding voice. Alarmed, all four Navis unleashed Busters, aiming them at a fire-escape, of which a six-foot-tall figure stood, his features concealed by shadows. The only details they could make out as he jumped off the escape and on the ground without recoil, hands at head's height, were a pair of thin sunglasses obscuring a humanistic right blue eye with white sclera, the edge-line of milk-chocolate spikes of hair etching in a mountain-peak pattern to cover his left eye, a white silken overcoat with a tall collar at ear height, a black T-shirt, a charm necklace, white pants secured by a large red obi sash, sandals and… a canine-like form?

The figure had, smothered by silky milk chocolate hair, a pair of tall, triangular dog ears with a light pink inner-ear, a hazel-tan muzzle and chest fur surrounded by the same fur color as his head of hair, a Japanese drummer rope headband, clawed human-like feet and a long fluffy tail poking from under the overcoat with fine, silky fur. His fur –which seemed quite realistic to be data – hinted that his being was kept in rather exceptional condition, judging by the generous and luminous sheen given off his body.

On his dog-like muzzle was a large grin, and considering how he was being held at gunpoint, it wasn't the smartest idea.

"Is this how you treat a friend? I fear to learn how you treat an enemy."

All four monkey Navis blinked. "Huh?" inquired the gorilla.

"To think that a couple of lowlife NetPolice did such a good job chasing you like dogs, but failed to clinch the final move. Of course, the 'dogs' avoided capture with sheer twisting of fate. Perhaps… you had a 'guardian angel'?"

"Angel…?" cocked a furrowed brow from the mandrill.

The dog-like creature, which stood on two legs, smirked devilishly. "Well, when you think about it… an _angel _isn't the word for me. After all…" he trailed as he sheepishly fished through his outer coat pocket for something. He smirked as he seemed to grab what he wanted. The four Navis adorned shocked faces as in the figure's humanoid hand were four DarkChips; the vestige of pure evil given BattleChip form –the forbidden fruit bared originally from the garden of Dr. Regal. "…Would a _servant of God _be carrying such a destructive power his coat pocket? My bets are on 'no', if you asked my opinion."

"D-DarkChips?" gawked the gorilla, almost defensivly.

"Where'd the hell'd you get _those_? Dr. Regal stopped making them since he went straight!" screeched the chimpanzee.

The figure smiled with a strangely innocent and sickeningly sweet feeling to it. "Sorry, dude; my boss would exterminate anyone who learned our secrets, and I don't like the idea of losing clients through… spilling the beans. But that isn't why I came to you."

"…What do you mean?" asked the baboon, almost hesitant.

The dogman's smile remained. "Why do you think I worked my magic to fool the NetPolice and hide your presence from them? I have a _job _for you, o exalted Saru Gang."

"E-_Exalted_…?" the gorilla blinked, not knowing whether this guy was being complimentary or dissing them.

"That's right. Y'see… I'm sorta the leader of a fan club. A 'coalition' if you will," said the dogman with sunglasses, stretching his neck to his left and exposing his other blue eye "Damn kink," he muttered.

"A coalition…? What are you, some kind of politician? Then again, no politician would _dare _be stupid enough to carry the 'Black Candy' in their coat pocket," the chimpanzee muttered. Dark Chips had no longer been produced in the numbers they had, or at all really, so _any _Dark Chips were worth a mint, and any NetNavi seeking power knew the Black Candy was the way to go.

The dogman blinked. "So that's what the underground calls 'em these days. Who would've thought?" he muttered before pushing up his glasses up his nose ridge. "Anyway… I happen to be assembling many underground Navis; supporters of overthrowing the established order and wreaking horrible vengeance in the 'pristine and just' world that shunned them. The NetPolice who hunted those of you down who were exiled from everyday life from forces beyond control will _pay _multitudes fold for your collective grievance. And to do that…well, an all-out assault would be absolutely _pointless _on the home front, especially with alliances from the Sharo and Neotopian militaries, the NetSaviors, and two factions that have recently come to light. _They _will be their trump cards in our plan against, which is why the plan is to attack _them _first; eliminate the secret weapon and the army is powerless. They'll fall like dominoes."

"So why the DarkChips?" asked the gorilla. He heard all of this, and seemed interested, but was not entirely convinced. "You actually expect us to believe this story? And even if we accept it, who's to know if it's a trap?"

The canine man looked genuinely surprised, which slowly became an impressed look. "Bravo, my friend; I was hoping you'd say that."

"Huh?" was the gorilla's reply.

"I have no intention of inducting brothers into our group without fully understand every gamble, every risk they are about to take. Loss, despair, corruption, insanity, even death it not above the events to unfold. That's why for a contract… well, to be specific, the DarkChips _are _the contract. That, and the tools needed for your end."

"'Tools? The hell're you talking 'bout?" quipped the chimpanzee.

"It's part of phase one: Tonight at midnight, there will be staged robberies and riots throughout DenTech City and NetCity – all in strategic locations. This will divide their united front into easy-to-pick-off squads of these second-rate carbon copy security drones. And while the NetSaviors may show up to intervene, flaunting their justice like expensive jewels, it will be certain targets that'll be the _real _prize. And I _do _mean that in the financial sense."

"Huh?"

Wagging a finger in midair, a screen appeared, showing the profile of many individuals, classified under the groups "NetSaviors", "Smashers" and "NME (CAUTION)".

On the very top wrote "Anonymous", with his profile and the message:

_Warning: Extremely Dangerous and Very Unpredictable  
PRIZE: 250,000,000z (Dead, at least 80% of lump data recovered), 500,000,000z (Alive; data intact)  
Mission Note: Participants will be provided with DarkChips upon partaking in this mission._

"That's a lot of zeros, ain't it? While this _is _a group effort, my bosses, my faction and myself want to give each and every willing participant 2 gifts: a complimentary DarkChip –specially modified to be rid of that pesky 'downside' of corrupting your soul data, and a chance to win it _big_. And as as you can see, the number don't lie. Question is: since every one of these targets are worth something…who will live the life, who will die the death, who will remain standing, and who will go out in a blaze of glory? It something… to _relish _in the moment."

The figure walked slowly away deeper into the darkness of the alley, dropping the DarkChips lightly between the four simians. "If you're in, await the 'invitation' on a private channel issued through the DarkChips. Oh, and… if you plan to squeal… you better pray to God almighty that my _homeboys _of the Subspace suck at playing 'Where's Waldo' Remember: 'The walls have eyes'," he said motioning to the walls around, a strange sense of foreboding perforating the air as though eyes really _were _looking down on them. Before the Navis could attempt to follow him, the dogman was gone. Only they and the DarkChips remained in the discreetly shrouded alley; just four sons of Adam and four Apples of Knowledge.

…Do they dare take the first bite, condemning them to life forever expelled from the haven of Eden?

The gorilla Navi smirked devilishly. "Well boys? What say we… _get rich quick_?" he asked, clenching a DarkChip in two fingers. As the four prepared to indulge themselves, the same figure from before had begun making appearances all across the UnderNet, bringing yet even _more _of society's dregs to the forefront of SubSpace's dark plans.

* * *

For a network complex, it was a nice day in NetCity; the everyday hustle and bustle of the day-to-day life of the average Navis. Shopping, errands for their operators, hangouts, and battle at the NetBattle Colosseum. Speaking of which…

"ProtoSword!" roared a certain red-clad Navi, the etymology of his attack originating from his name.

"Ha! You'll have to be better than that!" yelled a cocky brunette Navi as he parried his opponent's attack using what looked like a medieval sword forged of smooth silver metal; its cross guard was shaped like an eagle's wings, the pommel in the shape of an eagle's head, its hilt wrapped in dark brown leather.

MegaMan, Naruto and co. watched the unfolding brawl between Protoman and Anonymous, who had generously decided to spar with the silver-haired Navi out of boredom. He and Chaud saw this as a chance to finally seek retribution for their humiliations at the brown-haired duo's antics a couple weeks prior, though Anonymous was fighting solo; from his window Onii-San preemptively stated that something else had his attention at the moment, and from what the group could see before the link was shut off, he was tending to a small animal. Although it seemed dishonorable to Protoman to fight Anonymous without him able to link up with his Operator, it was the perfect chance to learn his opponent's moves up close; it was an opportunity that Protoman would be absolutely foolish to pass up. In addition to that, a sudden world-wide raid of dozens of facilities had the NetSavior on edge, since the coordinated assault had cost the NetPolice several thousand PoliceNavis, most of which would have to be replaced on the taxpayer's dollar, and no one was going to like that.

"Anonymous is really on fire isn't he?" MegaMan noted. Considering that ProtoMan and Chaud had always showed him and Lan up for the longest time, to finally see them getting a taste of their own medicine was a welcome sight, and all the more entertaining. Or at least from Lan's perspective, who was watching from MegaMan's shoulder in the form of a hologram, a parody of what the Link PET allowed NetNavis to do in the real world.

"So he is," Roll said from beside him, noting that his style seemed to focus more on defense than offence. While this didn't stop him from lashing out with a few nicks to ProtoMan's armor, the two seemed to be circling around one another on the field and not really doing much. It was obvious the two of them were holding back, ProtoMan doing so in order to get as much data on the seemingly-unregistered enigma as possible, while Anonymous did so purely for the entertainment value. That is, if the smirk had anything to do with it.

"I have to ask, how are Maylu and Jasmine?" Naruto asked both Roll and Medi, who was kicking back behind them with a CyberCola in her hand.

"Tired and incredibly sore," the two female navis sighed in return. It may have been a few days since the group had gotten back from the ninja mansion and fought off a horde of Ghost shinobi with only minimal training and assisted by angels from heaven, _not that anyone would believe them, _but despite how they could make illusionary clones, it still didn't change the fact that they lead a pseudo-sedatary lifestyle up until a couple weeks ago. They might've exercised on a sub-frequent basis, but with their hand-eye-coordination being their greatest asset in that regard, they weren't going to be entering any Olympics any time soon. Being NetSaviors meant they had to be held to a certain regard, but that was just them being able to get from one place to another quickly and on foot. They weren't exactly ninja, and while Naruto _was _one, since he _technically _did not possess a NetNavi of his own, he couldn't be _officially _inducted into the NetSavior's ranks.

"Yeah, I kinda figured," the blond thought to himself as he kicked back, thinking about the next stage of the group's training. It was true that he never thought they'd be able to make clones, but now that he'd started training them, he finally realized why the shinobi of his village became sensei; it was so much fun to see others grow through your teachings. _Hmmm... Maybe I'll teach them to climb trees without using their hands next. That would be fun, _the blond thought to himself as he watched the fight. _Maybe I'll pull out some mats though. Just to be safe, _he added as an afterthought. Not everyone was as durable as him, especially since he'd had a lightning covered hand shoved into his chest, _twice_.

"You've gotten better. I'm impressed," commented Anonymous, parrying a strike at his right hip with a twist of his wrist and a flicker of his silver blade. "But this dance has only begun, and I got a few moves up my sleeves," he said sidestepping ProtoMan's next slash before rushing him, empty palm out and striking his opponent's chest while his left foot snaked around behind his opponent's own, forcing him to fumble backwards. Flat on his back, the sword-navi was about to get up, only for an obsidian-colored tri-barrel revolver with silver dog patterns on it to be drawn, the three snarling Cerberus heads glaring right between his visor.

"Checkmate," he said with a smirk as he cocked the tri-ended hammer back, ProtoMan huffing in defeat once his opponent half-drew the trigger back. One wrong move and he'd be deleted, if he were so lucky. He honestly didn't like having to be "resurrected" from a Backup file since he always had gaps in his memory, and being recalibrated to the standards of the Original took forever.

"GutsMan thinks that was anticlimactic, guts," GutsMan grunted.

"You said it," Iris noted aloud as she blew a loose bang out of her face. Her hair had grown a few inches since her impromptu haircut at the hands of one Arma Geddon, though it was nowhere near how long it had been before. _Not that I mind, _she thought to herself as she kicked her legs in the air. _I kinda like it short, _she thought to herself as fantasies of a certain blond running his fingers through her hair flittered through her mind, the soft smile on her face unnoticed to the others as her mind wandered.

The next moment the jumbo-screens scattered across Net City flared to life, a news bulletin appearing on the screen with a humanoid NetNavi designed after a news anchor appeared on-screen.

"**T-this is Rick Porter, standing in for Onda Seen at DNN 6! It's chaos here in NetCity as hordes of UnderNavis have mysteriously appeared out of nowhere and are destroying everything and anything in sight! Navis are already retreating back to their PET's and this reporter suggests you do the sa—Wh-what are you- GAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! UNCLE! **_UNCLE!_**"**

That was the last of the reporter's cry as he and the cameraman were attacked by a series of HeelNavis yelling "Dump Pile!". The camera fell to the and was smashed by being stepped on, and to the shock of those that recognized it, some of them were being powered by the DarkAura. Following the news footage being cut off, the majority of the NetNavis present jacked out, more comfortable with letting the officials handle things here than put themselves in danger. Some were still a bit scarred from the kidnappings a few months prior, others unable to even _look_at a Mettuar without cringing. In addition to the sudden raids the night before and everyone was on edge.

"Geez, barely even a week after those weird ghost ninja attack us, and already we have to deal with something like this," Meddy sighed.

"I think you mean _Ghost _ninja," Roll commented.

"I just said that."

"No, _you _said it in the common tense, not proper tense," Roll returned.

"Will you quit talking about your weird fantasy adventure games and focus on the task at hand?" Chaud, who was unaware of the group's recent escapade, huffed in annoyance from his Window.

"I take it those evil auras are bad," a familiar voice said from behind them, the gathered Navis turning to see Sonic, Pit, Falco, Fox, Samus, Snake, Pikachu, and Lucario walking up to them, the voice having belonged to Samus.

"_Not just bad, Samus. Even from here I can sense the malicious power eminating from their bodies," _Lucario snarled, as though the lingering and faraway scend of the DarkChips' taint had wafted right into his nose.

"Well I guess it's a good thing _we're _here, eh?" Falco asked, having finally found out how to enter the Cyber World. Wasn't as fun as flying the Arwing, but meh, he managed.

"Let's just be careful here. There appear to be a lot of them," Fox noted as he ran some last-minute calibrators on his Blaster and Deflector Shield.

"Not that I'm not confident in our ability, but I think we may need a helping hand, even _with _our numbers," Sonic sighed. He may've been the fastest thing alive, but even then with those numbers someone could get a lucky shot in. Last time he was _Logged Out_, he was thrown into a wall face-first.

"Aw screw it, that's our cue sis!" a familiar and feminine voice said from above, the group looking up to see a pair of girls close to five feet tall on the jumbo screen. The two, jumping down in front of the two groups, looked eerily familiar to the blond shinobi of the group, but for some reason he couldn't place them right away.

The first was an attractive woman with spiky blond hair, sky blue eyes, and slightly tanned skin, her eyelashes long with a light pink eye shadow on. Her nails were painted bright red, matching the short sleeveless red dress, matching heels, and hoop earrings she wore, a golden necklace and two golden bracelets on her neck and wrists. The second was a stark contrast to her partner, though that wasn't to say she wasn't attractive. Her hair was long, violet with pink highlights, eyes teal with a bit of mascara on. Her clothing consisted of a black Lolita-like dress with a blue bow at her back and neck, black and blue stripped stockings on her legs while she wore black pumps on her feet. Since there was no NaviMark, or at least not one that could be seen, it was the general consensus that they may've gotten into the cyber world from the real world like the Smashers and Arma.

"The hell...?" Naruto balked for a few seconds as a row of dim bulbs above his head appeared, each going on one by one until all five were illuminated. "DAAAAAAHHH!-!-!" he suddenly blurted out shocking the others. "You're the two from the Ninjutsu School! The ones in the scantily-clad kunoichi outfits that turned out to be _angels_!-!"

"The _what _school?" ProtoMan deadpanned, though the two newcomers appeared to be engaged in their _own _conversation.

"I told you it was a bad idea," the gothic-dressed woman known to Onii-San as Stocking huffed at her sister, referring to wearing such scandalous outfits during their trip to the ninja mountain for a workout.

"Shut it, sweet tooth, I got it the first time!" the red-clad woman known to Onii-San as Panty growled in return at her sister.

"Yeah right, Pussy Galore! Maybe if you cut down on the men once in a while you'd increase your brain activity to _moderately _intelligent!"

"_This _coming from the Diva of Diabetes? Seriously, you pack enough sugar and calories to occupy an entire _timezone_!"

"And eating spicy food constantly helps? No wonder you constantly have the runs, _Panty_! Pepper enzymes go right _through _you!"

"Oh, _you'd _KNOW about _through _wouldn't you, _Stocking_? When was the last time _you _did anything good-looking?"

"Is there anything horny you refuse to jump on? I'll stick with sugar."

"At least I'm the social one, _fatass_! Get some sun once in a while – It's good for your skin!"

"You'd know, wouldn't you? Especially since you prefer showers from a 'fire hose'!" Stocking verbally barbed in return.

"Why you...!" Panty growled irately as the two exchanged lightning-fueled glares, the women present sans Samus blushing at the language the two were so blatantly using while the men _-or at least those that cared- _tried to catch up.

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!-!-!" Onii-San suddenly shouted from a Window that appeared behind the two, the women whirling around to face him only to _somehow _get smacked upside the heads with what looked like a bible from _behind _the holographic screen. "If you don't wanna be stuck here forever, the only option you pathetic excuses for anything resembling angels have, is to buy your way back into heaven with Heaven Coins you collect exterminating evil Ghosts!"

"You know, you're starting to sound a lot like Garterbelt right about-"

"Shut up! Get your lazy fucking asses to the scene immediately!" the brunette screeched like a black man before the screen shut off.

"God, how the hell can you stand working with this guy?" the one now known to the others as Panty asked the red-eyed brunette.

"As long as it isn't me, who the fuck cares?" Anonymous replied, the others in the background trying to figure out just what was going on.

"Hey Pit, you're an angel too aren't you? Any idea who these two are?" Sonic asked the winged teen, who pulled out a beastiary decorated with an angel's wings and flipped through the pages before coming up to blank entry. Almost like magic, profiles of the two girls labeled **Panty& Stocking Anarchy **appeared on the yellow pages.

"According to this, the two of them were banished from heaven after several dozen counts of skipping school, unholy debauchery, and lastly displaying the Deadly Sins: Lust and Gluttony respectively," the brunette read out before closing the book. "I just can't believe my sorta-cousins would do stuff like that. I thought angels were supposed to have more _class_," he sighed while the others gaped at the seemingly-noble angel being related to... those two. Debauchery was one thing, but angels participating in _unholy _debauchery was quite another altogether.

"Don't only _half _of them seem to be using DarkChips?" Samus noted as her long-range scouters picked up a small percentile of DarkAura-powered HeelNavis.

"Does it matter? We need to stop them!" Roll shouted as she got up.

"Wait a second... Where did your chick cousins go?" Sonic asked looking around, noticing the absence of the two who Pit had introduced as his cousins. The next moment a strangely-familiar music started playing, accompanied by a myriad of colored lights, a sense of dread welling up in the pit of Naruto, Roll, Meddi, and Iris' stomachs, prompting them to shut their eyes as two silver stripper poles suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

**Cue Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt Soundtrack – Fly Away **

"**O pitiful shadow lost in the darkness. O evil spirit born of those drifting between Heaven and Earth. May the thunderous power from the garments of the holy delicate maiden strike down upon you with great vengeance and furious anger, shattering your loathsome impurity and returning you from whence you came. Repent you muther_fuckers_!" **the two shouted as their garments were weaponized, neon blue halos and wings appearing before they shot off in twin contrails in one direction. After getting over the initial shock of what just happened, the Smashers and present Net Saviors scattered in the directions where the HeelNavi concentration was the strongest, the sound of scuttling cardboard across the ground fading into the background.

* * *

"Looting! Loot everything in sight!" a random dreg roared as he and his brethren busted down the market district, damaged, abandoned, monkey-themed, and mis-matched netnavis stealing everything that wasn't bolted to the ground, some doped up on DarkChips and causing even _more _damage. The next moment a blue blur suddenly shot by, the sonic boom knocking them over before shooting off into the distance.

" . . . What the heck was that?" one asked as he got to his feet as the dust cloud left their line of sight. Before anyone could ask, the blue blur shot by them again, slash marks appearing on those closest to it, some deleted while others were simply thrown back. Within moments of the blue blur disappearing once more, a hail of glowing blue arrows shot at them from above, prompting one to scream- "Sniper!" While some tried hiding behind cover, the arrows seemed to curve around everything in their paths, and if that wasn't enough, dozens were being whipped out every time that blue blur shot by.

"What's going on here!" one of them shrieked before an anthromorphic blue hedgehog suddenly flew into him spinning like a buzzsaw, yet more arrows striking anything that wasn't running or trying to. Essentially, everything.

"Heh! Too easy!" Sonic and Pit shouted as they continued to lash out with guerilla tactics, Sonic's Excalibur combined with his speed cutting through everything in his path, while Pit's bow and Mirror Shield kept him in the game whenever someone was able to take a shot at him.

* * *

"_Bone Club!_", roared Lucario, swinging his club of Aura with severe force at a group of HeelNavis, knocking them out of the park with a home-run. Instinctively the jackal Pokemon backflipped using the pole as leverage, dodging an incoming swipe of a HeelNavi's LongSword, which was deleted when it was impaled by Lucario's club at the skull

"_Tch. There's no end to them!_"

"Then we'll make an end.", cocked Falco. "You ready Fox?"

"Maneuver 1-12?", asked the vulpine.

"Maneuver 1-12.", replied Falco. In a blitz of gunfire, the two fired their blasters rapid-fire, jumping over one another's backs and firing at anything that moved towards them. When a HeelNavi would attempt to move up on Fox, Falco would appear over his back and take him out, vice versa happening when one tried to approach Fox, the maneuver being expertly performed because they didn't need to speak to one another as they fought, but that they knew where the other was going to be, and that both counted on the other to cover their backs. Using his senses to read their auras, Lucario batted aside HeelNavis with his Bone Club and Force Palm as his body weaved between the laser blasts. After a few minutes, the hundred or so HeelNavis attacking them had been reduced to only a small baker's dozen.

"Anyone else with bright ideas?" Falco asked smugly. Cowering, the hiding HeelNavis screamed and ran away at top speeds in different directions, fanning away from the Smashers for dear life.

* * *

"Pika!" Pikachu cried as he scattered electricity into the advancing HeelNavis, Samus firing off bombs and missiles into the ranks as she ran forward, lashing out with spin kicks and arm cannon whipping for anything that got in her way. The ones empowered by the DarkAura fought more fiercely than their non-augmented brethren, but the combined efforts of Samus and Pikachu took them down after a few well-placed attacks.

"Based on my readings and the data I've collected..." Samus said as her visor analyzed the ambient energies wafting off the defeated HeelNavis as they retreated. "While DarkChips empower netnavis beyond their normal limits, the cost comes at the near-irreversible corruption of their data. However..." she trailed off as another window came up. "Something doesn't add up. There isn't any sign of deterioration, yet there's some underlying energy I can't currently identify," she said as she analyzed another wavelength beneath the DarkAura's.

"Pika..." the electric mouse squeaked, looking around with ears twitching.

"Don't worry. Snake's a tough guy. He won't go down _that _easily," Samus returned, having noticed a spot of cardboard in the corner of her eye before she and the others scattered.

* * *

"Fuck! Holy Weapons only work on the DarkAura!" Panty cursed as the HeelNavis abound felt themselves over, grins behind their helmets as the two angel-like NetNavis' attacks were useless against them. Just their luck that they'd run into the thickest throng of DarkAura-powered HeelNavis out there. The two didn't hesitate to remove the rest of their undergarments to dual-wield Holy Weapons, cat calls going out before the object were weaponized, which of course was nothing new to them. From there the two angels proceeded to eradicate the DarkAura with their Holy Weapons, and while they were able to succeed in doing so, just like with humans, their Holy Weapons only worked on Ghosts or concentrations of ill intent; nothing else. "Alright sis! Time to break out the _big _guns!" the blond then said with a wicked grin as she pulled out what appeared to be a Giga-Class BattleChip, the picture of a laughing skull on the small black plate up at the top, from the inside of her bra.

"Got it!" Stocking said in return as she pulled a like-Chip from _her _bra, the two slotting the two Giga-Class battlechips into their own Holy Weapons through slats that appeared as the BattleChips neared their surfaces. Plugging them in, the weapons glowed brightly, temporarily blinding all the HeelNavis in the viscinity until the light faded, a sense of dread welling up from the pits of their stomachs as the two angel-like navis suddenly had drastically different weapons from before. Panty now carried what appeared to be a large mini-gun, the six barrels replaced with even _smaller _mini-guns creating a total of 36 gun barrels on one weapon, the coloring like that of Backlace though without the tiny bow, the weapon itself whirring to life as the main assembly spung clockwise, while the mini-mini-guns spun counterclockwise increasing stabliity. Stocking now carried what appeared to be an extra-long chainsaw, only instead of teeth, there were more chainsaws, the miniature chainsaws whirring to life before the main one did, the sheer number of cutting blades creating a small typhoon around the blade blowing Stocking's hair backwards.

**"REPENT AGAIN, MOTHERFUCKERS!"** the two angels then shrieked as they went completely ballistic, HeelNavis crying out in terror as some fought while others ran, only for them to be mauled by hundreds of bullets or mutli-bladed chainsaw strikes that ate through even the strongest Defense-Type battlechips like paper in a paper shredder. At the same time in the distance as HeelNavis scattered in every direction, the watching dogman's eyes narrowed at the sight as hundreds of bullets tore through the air every second, while an undefeatable mass of blades flew out in a spiral. Somehow or other, the two did not harm one another, this causing him to say-

"I think these angels reinvented the hell out of the word 'extreme'..."

* * *

"Meddy Capsule!" Meddy called out as she scattered white, yellow, black, and purple capsules into the surrounding HeelNavi ranks, spreading a myriad of status-inflicting effects.

"Roll Roulette!" Roll called out as she spun while using Roll Blast, the heart-shaped projectiles scattering in every direction and striking those who were paralyzed, confused, blinded, or bugged.

"Guts Quake!" GutsMan roared as he brought his arms down in a double axe-handle, the hammer head sending a shockwave in all directions and knocking those still standing from the Roll Roulette off their feet.

"Glyde Gattling!" Glyde called out as his gold-colored gattling gun scattered bullets in a wide sweep. After the failed ambush, the gathered HeelNavis scattered like cockroaches when the lights turned on, those blinded by Meddy bumping into the sides of buildings and lamp posts.

"I'm beginning to wonder if whoever made NetCity _planned _for this to happen," Roll said aloud, considering Net City had been invaded at _least _a half dozen times in the past since it was brought online.

"There's no way of knowing for sure. Let's just focus on the here-and-now!" Meddy said as she rallied the others forward, Glyde and GutsMan sighing as they were once again dragged along.

* * *

"Man, how many times is Net City going to be _invaded_ like this?" Naruto asked as he and Iris ran through one borough of the cybernetic city, occasionally stopping to shoot anything colored purple and/or evil. So far they didn't shoot anyone that didn't need to be.

"I don't know. This is... what, the third time this has happened?" Iris asked as she fired off another shot. After acquiring a basic Buster program when she became more dedicated to becoming a front-line fighter instead of always being support, she was able to modify it to its ultimate extreme, since she _was _the "Ultimate Controller", capable of manipulating any machine or program to her will. The Iris Buster was colored violet with purple highlights, a pair of butterfly wings like on her barrettes acting as the sights as she fired white-colored blasts every which way, Naruto covering her with his own black-colored blasts, the blue portions of his NetNavi attire now colored black given his recent paradigm shift. "Of course that might be since _you_ arrived to this world."

"Geez, you'd think they'd shut the place down for a while and overhaul security between these catastrophes," Naruto huffed in annoyance as he fired a charge shot into a throng of dregs. As it turned out, HeelNavis were formerly regular navis that were abandoned when the next model of Navi in their type came out. From a psychological standpoint, HeelNavis all wore purple and saucer-shaped helmets to gain a sense of anonymity, thus giving them less hazard in concern to their own actions. Apart from that, they were decorated with spikes, saw blades, or fake bones.

"Unfortunately, an entire firewall cannot be overhauled," Iris said plucking a barrette from her hair before it began to glow. "All anyone can really do is find the hole, plug it, and repeat. Butterfly Buzzsaw!" she shouted out as she let the bladed accessory fly, ducking down as Naruto aimed over her shoulder to nail a HeelNavi that had almost jumped her.

"Still, you'd think they could at least mass-produce security navis for Net City. Certainly make _our _jobs a lot easier," Naruto grumbled as he released another charge shot past some enemy ranks, only for it to burst like a Spreader and go backwards hitting the opponent's rear flanks, the Back Shot as he liked to call it and nearly impossible to dodge. "Whose bright idea was it to leave the fate of the world to _kids _anyway? Shouldn't the _adults _be handling this kind of thing?"

"You know... In all my times posing as a human, I could never quite wrap my head around that," Iris said as she looked up, noticing that the HeelNavis had begun retreating, though they all seemed to be going to... "Naruto! We need to start moving! _Now_!" Iris cried out as she grabbed the blond's hand before running off, surprising him with her strength completely disproportional to her petite stature.

"I just realized something. Where are your sisters?" Naruto asked as he noticed something was missing in that picture.

"I left them back at the Colosseum," Iris answered as she ran. "If what I think is about to happen will happen, we'll need to double-time."

"Don't worry," Naruto said as he took back his footing. "I'm sure they'll be fine. He may be a bit unorthodox... but Anonymous can handle a few backnet dregs like this."

"It's not him I'm worried about," Iris said worriedly.

* * *

Meanwhile, the dogman from earlier watched as the events unfolded in NetCity, watching agents of the NetSaviors and Smashers battled with the hordes of DarkChip-empowered grunts at his disposal, though the NME-affiliated navis seemed to be absent today. Though the "good guys" had been scattered, not finding who they were looking for, the horde began to peel away from those they were fighting before, heading towards their true objective once word began to spread.

"Ah, I remember it like it was yesterday," the dogman sighed as he looked up into the sky.

**There were only two figures in a secluded dark room. The dogman knelt on one leg to a small throne-like chair, housing a sitting figure of which the only visible features were his left arm and cheek, along with some brown hair. His skin was a peach tone, his arm cuffed by a white dress shirt. If one looked close enough there was part of a tied string from the revealed patch of skin on his face.**

"**You understand what needs to be done, yes?"**

"**Of course, boss. I've read through the reports and have come up with a strategy worthy of our cause I believe is to your liking."**

**The figure grinned. "Ah, yes. You certainly live up to the Geddon name. In fact, I am so pleased that I wish to give you my blessing **_**personally**_**."**

"**Huh?" asked the canine in the overcoat before instinctively grabbing a thrown object – a royal purple sphere encased in a thin glass box. The dogman's eyes flew open.**

"**B-boss! Isn't this a-?!", he started before a soft 'shhhh' escaped. "Don't spoil it. Relish the moment; the moment that you've been trusted with one of the Subspace's greatest weapons.**

"**But won't you get in deep shit for this?! To allow an unacknowledged subordinate to use a weapon like a **_**Joshou **_**(Limit-Removal Treasure) is-"**

"**Let **_**me**_** take the brunt of any rage from the higher-ups; consider it a reward for you efforts."**

**Onishiba stared at the jewel in his hand, still encased in the glass box. "For the boss to trust me with this..." he thought as a ****look of determination glinted in his eye. **_**I refuse to let him down!**_

Pocketing the Joshou after reminescing, Onishiba continued to observe the efforts of those below. He was enjoying the display of attacks and screams of battle, painting the city like a brush on a canvas. After a few minutes, he then took a breath and said- "You're not that bad at hiding. But your curiosity is giving you away." -to no one in particular. There was, however, a large carboard box tucked in the corner of the rooftop where the dogman stood, which was heaved off and sent to the ground below, revealing Snake.

"Had to happen eventually, y'know. You're a tough bastard to track down. That was, until you started to leave an obvious trail of slowing your pace; you did that intentionally, didn't you?"

"All for a valuable lesson my friend."

"That being?"

The Shiba-Inu antromorph smirked. "That you just stalked the wrong target."

"Huh?" asked Snake, cocking a brow, before realizing that his target had already vanished instantly before his eyes. "?!" The next time Snake knew, he felt a strong jab in the back of his neck. Looking out the corner of his eye to see the dogman in the white coat, he soon slumped over before passing out, the prompt "Snake: Logging Out" chiming as he was returned to the real world, where he would remain unconscious until he came around again.

"Check and mate, dude. Check and mate," he said slyly before lightly hopping off the rooftop and onto the one next to it at a lower elevation. "So a Smasher was able to pick up on me after all. I must be losing my touch," he laughed, running a hand through his maple brown hair leftwards.

* * *

Slowly but surely, the Smashers and Net Saviors seemed to be pushing back the HeelNavi invasion as they were either deleted, or ran back to the UnderNet from whence they came. After around a half hour of battling however, the allied forces began noticing a trend. While the HeelNavis were wrecking and looting everything in sight, they acted as though they were looking for something, or some_one_, indicated by them pulling out files and looking them over, taking in the faces of every Navi they came across before moving onto the next target, only to either flee when the Smashers or Net Saviors showed up, or in groups attempt to capture them.

"This is starting to get annoying," ProtoMan groaned as he ProtoSlash'd another trio of HeelNavis, bisecting them at the waist and deleting them.

"Well what can we do? There's no way of telling just how many of these guys there are until they leave the UnderNet and appear in the OverNet," MegaMan said as he booted another HeelNavi out of the way, file in hand flapping through the air before the blue netnavi caught it, eyes widening in recognition at the face that greeted him. "ProtoMan! I think I know who they're after!" Following a DeltaSlash, ProtoMan ran over to MegaMan's side as the HeelNavis chose to run for greener pastures, eyes widening behind his visor as he too realized just why the HeelNavis were doing this.

"Wanted... 250,000,000 zenny dead, 500,000,000 zenny alive?" ProtoMan before his eyes landed on the bottom line. "What the hell is this about a _signing bonus_? Is someone handing out DarkChips to motivate these guys?"

"Can't be sure, but it makes sense. Still... haven't you noticed something odd? Their DarkAuras aren't as strong as the ones we've encountered in the past," MegaMan noted aloud, considering it had been a little too easy to dispatch the DarkAura-powered HeelNavis than it should've been. Darkchips were estimated to increas a NetNavi's power by over ten times after converting them into DarkSoul Navis, yet these ones only appeared to be two-to-three-times as strong as before, and considering most HeelNavis were only as strong as Standard or BasicNavis, highly-skilled CustomNavis could easily dispatch them without much trouble.

"We can over-analyze later. For the time being, we need to move Anonymous to a safer location, or at least outside of NetCity. The HeelNavis nearly caused a system's crash when they first came here, and technical is going nuts trying to keep this place running," ProtoMan said as he ran towards the NetBattle Colosseum, the last place Anonymous was sighted. "Attention all NetSaviors, return to the NetBattle Colosseum immediately, this is a Level 1 priority. Break away from engagement and follow the Waypoint Markers I'm sending you," he instructed as he sent out the call to all the NetSaviors. At the same time, MegaMan was sending out messages to the Smashers he could by using the electronic IDs they'd acquired once entering the net.

* * *

At the same time, Anonymous and Iris' sisters Key, Karat, and Phoenix stood in the middle of the NetBattle Colosseum, the two prior looking over a real-time map of Net City while the latter two kept their gaze on the entrances to the ground floor. With no hidden amusement, Phoenix watched as Anonymous and Key continued to blush whenever their eyes met, though the enigma did a better job of hiding it. As this was going on, Key looked at the Burst Mode chip Anonymous had given her and the others. None had tried using yet since they would have no idea what the coding did until it was actually _used_, but with the way things were going, they would have to use them eventually.

"Anonymous, where is your sister by any chance?" Key saw fit to ask.

"I sent her home as soon as things got rough," he answered, then noticed a trend in the enemy's movements. "Awwww crap. Guys, we've got company."

"Yeah, we've noticed," Phoenix huffed as Anonymous and Key looked up from what they were doing, a large number of HeelNavis flooding into the Colosseum. As soon as they entered, at least half used DarkChips, the DarkAura enveloping them and raising their power tremendously, while others saw fit to use them more conservatively in lieu of illegally-modified BattleChips.

"Alright, I'll take the ones on the left, Phoenix, you take the ones on the right. The rest go to you two," Karat said as she cracked her KaratWhip across the ground.

"Fine then. I guess now's as good a time as any to test out..." Anonymous said as he rose a couple feet above the ground, twin rings of data rotating around him as his features began to change. "Style Change: Ainzer!" he called out before the flash, anyone looking directly at it having to shield their eyes until the light died down.

"Ooh! This one's got _teeth_!" Karat said in awe as she eyed his sleekened form.

"Eh, green's not really his color though," Phoenix stated.

"Kind of resembles BeastMan," Key noted to herself as she eyed the brunette's new form, radically different in shape from what he was originally.

Overall, Anonymous' new shape looked like a mix between a shark and a T-Rex. His legs were longer and digitigrades, marginally thinner and more angular than before with green armor on his feet, shins, and thighs. His body was now clad in a cream-colored bodysuit, a small amount of armor on his forearms, his fingers now tipped in claws. His head of course looked drastically different, resembling a shark's only with the top and bottom flat with a row of white teeth set concave into the helmet, a pair of round red lenses on the sides of the helmet. Last but not least was what looked like a shooter's platform on his back, equipped with a chair and riot shield equipped with a gun mount, a white booster-like barrel jutting out of a green-colored cube on his lower back. His size of course had at least doubled, leaving him standing at least a head above anyone there when hunched over.

"Key, hop on. We're going for a little ride," SC Anonymous said as he crouched down, allowing Key to hop onto the chair jutting out of his back. Setting her KeyBlade onto the weapon mount, streams of data flowed over it before it gained a rifle-like look.

**"ATTACK!"** a HeelNavi, voice distorted by the DarkAura, shouted as he threw his arms forward, the darkly-colored throng rushing forward. With thruster-like barrel burning, SC Anonymous rushed forward like he was on nitros, his pointed helmet carving a path right to the outside of the enemy's ranks while Key swiveled her chair 180 degrees, firing off electric shots from her KeyBlade, firing as many as she could while SC Anonymous strafed around the enemy's ranks, taking some of the pressure off of Karat and Phoenix, who were still in the middle.

"Alright boys!" Karat smiled as she cracked her whip through the air. "Who wants to play first?" she asked as she made a 'bring it' motion with her free hand, a portion of the HeelNavis rushing her as she began to spin around, her KaratWhip lengthening and creating an impenetrable perimeter around her, anything entering a twenty-foot radius of her being thrown back with jagged score marks across their bodies.

"To use this or not to use this, that is the question," Phoenix said as she lazily tossed the yet-to-be-calibrated Burst Mode chip in her hand, the HeelNavis choosing to keep their distance since anything that got too close to the other three were bit, shot, or lashed. "Ah fuck it. LET'S DO THIS THING!" she said slapping the chip against her NaviMark, the initial burst of flame incinerating the nearest HeelNavis to her as a massive fireball raged around her form.

**Cue Kamen Rider OOO Soundtrack – Time Judged All**

The next moment a powerful firestorm burst outwards, several dregs deleted while others were badly burned, a feminine figure clad in a black bodysuit descending to the ground as the flames slowly ebbed, though her armor appeared to be made of living, _breathing _flame. Her boots were colored black with red wing-shaped accents at her knees, hexagonal panels over her kneecaps and the sides of her ankles, red plates running over the tops of her feet, a golden claw jutting up from the top of each foot while another pair jutted back from each ankle. Her forearms were covered in black gloves with gold bands around the wrists, red plates on the backs of the hands and wing-like accents up the forearm and over the elbow. Spread across her upper chest was a larger, armored NaviMark bearing a more detailed phoenix with flame-like wings spread and talons drawn, shoulder guards resembling folded wings. With fiery red hair flowing out the back of a black helmet, her face was guarded by a clear red beak-shaped visor stopping just above her chin, a wing-like crest running from the sides of her jaw to the sides of her head and above her eyes ending with a gold-beaked phoenix emblem at the top.

"Blazing... Combo!" Burst Phoenix cried as she spread her arms, a massive wall of rainbow-colored peacock like plumage bursting behind her. Throwing her arms forward, the hail of plumage turned into ballistic missiles, exploding in fiery bursts and incinerating the dregs by the bunches. Spreading her arms again, a pair of red wings burst from her shoulders before she took flight high above the Colosseum, all in the area looking up at the impressive sight before Burst Phoenix shot headfirst into a dive, flipping forwards mid-flight as her shins and feet split into three parts, transforming into a large pair of talons. "Raptor Edge!" she cried as the pointed claws tore through everything she swooped through, HeelNavis scattering like mice from a falcon, only for her to come around for another pass.

"Whoa... Is that what _all _our Burst Modes will look like?" Key asked in surprise.

"Not exactly, and while this power won't corrupt you like the DarkChips will," Anonymous said as he crushed a HeelNavi's skull between his teeth with the force of an industrial vise. "This blade isn't without its double-edge."

"What do you mean?" Key asked worriedly, wondering just what she and the others had been given.

"Prominence..." Phoenix called out as she flew high into the air, arms and ankles crossed as her wings closed around her. **"DROP!"** she roared as her arms, legs, and wings spread, a massive phoenix made of pure flame screeching loudly before it flew down into the throng of HeelNavis surrounding Karat, who threw a large her KaratShield over herself as the massive phoenix proceeded to carpet bomb them with the flaming embers that fell from her form. After every HeelNavi and DarkAura had been incinerated, the massive phoenix just as quickly cut a groove through the ground, her Blazing Combo armor peeling off her body in fragments until the Burst Mode chip she had used returned to her hand, the phoenix-like symbol on Blazing Combo's chest now etched onto it. "Whooo... What a rush..." she panted out as she tried to rise, only to fall to one knee. "Heh... Guess I used a little too much power. Well, I had my fun. The rest of you... take care of yourselves," she said giving the others a thumbs up, the prompt "Phoenix: Logging Out" playing as she retreated from the Cyber World.

"That's what," SC Anonymous spoke as the fiery-haired navi left. "The use of Burst Mode is like turning a faucet on all the way. You get more water out of it, but you'll burn through your supply faster."

"So it's only for emergencies then..." Key summarized as she took a couple breaths, waiting for the collective of HeelNavis to get over the shock of what they just saw before returning to the battle. "I can see why you didn't use _yours _as soon as the fight started."

"Yeah... That's why..." SC Anonymous replied as he took note of the field at present. At first they'd been waylaid by at least 500 HeelNavis, but the herd had been considerably thinned to less than 200. The next moment however, the sound of thundering footsteps alerted his and Key's eyes to the presence of yet _more _HeelNavis, who began pouring into the Colosseum after the last wave was extinguished. "Oh you have got to be _kidding _me!" he shouted as even more than before showed up, malicious gleams in their eyes. "Geez, how many of these guys are going to show up?" he asked as his Style Change tapped out, and Key hopped off his back.

**"Does it matter?" **one HeelNavi asked in a voice distorted by the DarkAura.

**"Give up now and we won't hurt you."**

**"Yeah._Much_. Hahahahaha!"**

"If you think I'm giving up to a munch of mini-bosses like you all, you've got another thing coming," he said as his fist went to his pocket, drawing out a Giga-Class BattleChip with the image of a fist over a red and yellow backdrop on it. "Both of you hit the decks! Heavy's Minigun! BattleChip in! Download!" he shouted as Key and Karat dropped to the ground with their hands over their heads. A moment later, the brunette was now holding a large, dark gray minigun with a light gray ammunition barrel attached to the bottom, high caliber bullets feeding into it, while a long magazine wound itself around his chest.

"I am Heavy Weapons Guy. And _this _is my weapon," Anonymous said in a foreign accent, most likely from the USSR, as he adjusted his grip on the Heavy's Minigun in his hands. "She weighs one hundred kilograms and fires two hundred zenny custom-tooled cartridges at ten thousand rounds per minute," he said before leaning forward slightly with a wide grin plastered on his face. "It costs four hundred thousand zenny to fire this weapon... for twelve seconds," he said causing a few to pale. If that thing fired 200 zenny _bullet s_at 10,000 rounds per minute, and he was more-than-eager to use such a weapon on them, a few were considering cutting their losses and heading home.

"So... Who wants to get a kiss from Sasha first?" he asked as the gun's barrel began to spin in preparation for firing, a few stepping back from the imposing weapon and having second thoughts. "No one? Really? Well that's a _shame_, because Sasha wants to kiss _you_!" he said before he began firing rounds into the hoard of Heelnavis, the purple and black-armored forces dropping left and right like flies as bullet casings piled out around Anonymous' feet. "Waaaaaaaaah, huuuAAAAAHHHHH! AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! CRY SOME MOOOOOOOORE!"

This of course happened to be the scene that Naruto, the NetSaviors, and the Brawlers came upon as soon as they were told where the HeelNavis were heading, the collective heading for higher ground or ducking behind cover as the red-eyed brunette went completely ballistic on everything evil, the two at his feet covering their eyes even as they were buried in spent shells.

"H-He's like a bear!" one HeelNavi screamed amidst the chaos. "He's like a big shaved bear that _hates_ people!" he shrieked before he too, was gunned down, his body deleted like the rest.

"If that thing's firing over a hundred sixty-five rounds each second, how much will this cost him exactly?" Key asked as she pushed some shells out of her face.

"I don't know... I lost count after these shells covered my face," she said as she shook some of the casings out of her hair, the brunette standing above them shooting at anything that got too close, or moved, or got to close to him while moving.

* * *

At the same time on a high building, the shadowed figure from before had finished dusting his hands after dispatching Snake and keeping him out of the fight, while ensuring his own presence remained hidden. After the short-lived display of fireworks before the _gun show_, the shadowed figure sighed at how epicly the various dregs of the UnderNet were failing. Even _if _the mass-produced DarkChips were a little watered-down as to keep up with the demand, they shouldn't have been losing so easily, or quickly.

"*_Sigh* _If you want something _done_..." he sighed as he withdrew a sniper rifle from the folds of his coat. "You've got to do it yourself," he finished as he watched yet more HeelNavis deleted by the red-eyed navi's hand. As he affixed the scope onto his objective, debating whether to go for the heart, between the eyes, or whether to hit his target or the _official _leader of the Net Saviors, he quickly turned his aim a couple degrees to the left before his finger went to the trigger.

* * *

A few minutes before, down in the Colosseum as the last of the HeelNavis were either deleted or ran with their tails between their legs, a certain camo-colored navi noticed something out the corner of his eye before he brought out a sniper rifle of his own and took aim.

"SearchMan, do you see something?" MegaMan asked the visiting NetNavi. He and ProtoMan had run into him during the raid, having been taking out HeelNavis from a sniper's nest before they joined up.

"Yeah..." he said as the lenses focused on the distant target, having made its presence known by the light's glare off a scope similar to his own. The shadowed figure looked like he was trying to take a shot at the center of the Colosseum, most likely at Anonymous. Before the Sharo navi could take the shot however, the end of his target's barrel suddenly aimed straight down his own.

**BANG**

"Shit!" Searchman cried as the bullet launched went straight down the barrel of his own sniper rifle, the two rounds colliding inside the chamber and completely destroying the weapon, as well as his right arm and a portion of his chest and face. "I'm sorry... but it seems I won't be able to help any further than this..." SearchMan sighed. "SearchMan: Logging Out"

"Everyone! Sniper!" ProtoMan cried out as he and MegaMan dove for cover. Fox and Falco readied their reflector shields over their vital areas, Sonic and Pit hid behind the latter's mirror shield, Samus scooped Pikachu into her arms as she ducked behind a barricade, Karat aimed her KaratShield in the direction the shot came from, while everyone else ducked for cover wherever they could find it.

"Lucario! Samus! Any idea where they are?" MegaMan shouted out as he readied a MetGuard chip.

"No good, he's too far out of my range," Samus cursed while Lucario shook his head.

_"Whoever did this must have also taken out Snake. I cannot sense him anywhere," _Lucario spoke as his sensors clacked, only to fall once more.

"Awwww. Don't ruin the surpriiiise..." an echoing voice said from everywhere at once. "Now, I'm afraid I'm going to have to make _someone _pay for this," it said before a myriad of targeting lasers dotted Anonymous, Karat, and Key from all sides, the prior throwing his body over theirs as the sound of cocking guns prompted ProtoMan into action.

"DreamAura! Sanctuary! Battle Chip in! Double-Download!" ProtoMan called out as he threw the chips in a straight shot at the three in the center of the Colosseum right as the bullets began to fly. As a clear white dome was erected over them and the floor glowed from golden panels, the hailstorm of bullets buffeted the barrier, cracks spreading across it much to everyone's shock. With the damage-reducing properties of Santuary combined with the near-impenetrable properties of DreamAura, this defensive tactic could stand up to even _Bass' _attacks, yet somehow this attack was causing cracks to spread out to the point that the barrier was about to give.

"MetGuard! Battle Chip in! Quadruple Download!" MegaMan shouted as he threw the four chips right at the vulnerable trio right as the barrier began to fail, a quartet of giant Mettuar helmets falling over the three and guarding them from all sides. However, that measure soon failed one by one until the center was bombarded by bullets, a massive dust cloud kicking up.

"Key! Karat!" Iris cried out as she ran out to them, only for Naruto to tackle her to the ground and pin her.

"Hold it! You go in there and you'll be hit too!" Naruto shouted. Colonel had left his and Iris' sisters in _his _care, so the orange-clad human-navi could only hope they were alright. When the smoke cleared, the ground at the target site was riddled with bullet holes, while at the center was a gaping hole, as though someone had dug a hole at the last second. The next moment the rafters behind them burst open as Anonymous shot out with the DrillArm battlechip and leapt back into the center of the Colosseum, Iris' sisters both ducking behind what cover they could find.

"Enough's enough! No more heelnavis! No more bystanders! Come out now or I'll _make _you!" Anonymous threatened as his eyes panned over every dark shadow they could find. It was one thing having someone after _him_, that was nothing new, but you mess with bystanders and you're asking for it.

"Hey hey, no need to get melodramatic. I'm right here," the same voice from before echoed out of nowhere before a cloaked figure leapt down into the Colosseum across from Anonymous, the shadows peeling away from him and revealing their assailant's form.

The one who had taken down SearchMan, and nearly did the same for Anonymous, Karat, and Key, was an anthromorphic tan-furred dog standing on two legs, a beige-tan face and muzzle with the colors separated by an angular jagged fur line. His eyes were colored sapphire and shaped like a human's, a pair of polarized black sunglasses set on his snout, a pair of triangular ears poking out of a largh bushel of spiky human-like hair, which spread out in many directions, styled so his left eye was mostly covered. His attire consisted of a black shirt beneath a long white trench coat with a high collar, a pair of green pant secured by a red slash bearing black vertical straps, and blue sandals over his clawed, human-like feet. The last two details were the Asiatic charm necklace around his neck, a braided rope headband around his head, and the absence of a NaviMark in any way, shape, or form across his body.

"That guy doesn't have a NaviMark on him... Does that mean...?" MegaMan asked aloud.

"It seems so. Another being from the real world, capable of entering CyberSpace," ProtoMan said as his sword materialized, everyone around either stepping back or getting ready to fight. Whoever this guy, with the power to punch through the near-impenetrable Santuary/DreamAura combo, was no pushover.

"Congratulations! You hit the nail right on the head with that one!" the dog-man said with a grin as his ears perked, eyes closed an partially obscured by his sunglasses.

"So I assume it's _you _that put this hit on me," Anonymous hissed as he tossed the wanted poster with his face plastered on it across the ground, the data file stopping just short of the shiba-like figure's foot.

"Yep. And I would've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for these meddlesome children and their pet _monkey_," he said jovially jabbing a thumb at GutsMan, causing a tick mark to appear on his forehead before he beat his fists against his chest and rushed in.

"GutsMan! Wait! Stop!" MegaMan and Roll shouted as the massive navi charged at the anthromorphic navi head-on, who simply gave him a dismissive glance as a powerful GutsHammer came down at him. When the dust cleared however, the barrel of a sawed-off shotgun burst out from the dustcloud, the dog-man standing just to the right of the hammer's head as he cocked the barrel back.

"You know... It's _really _quite rude to interrupt someone as they're talking," he said as he tapped the twin-barrel against GutsMan's navimark before pulling the trigger, a loud **_CRACK _**ringing through the air as a massive hole was blown clean through his chest, the navi thrown back into the wall as his body began to break apart.

"GutsMan! GutsMan, hang in there!" Roll cried as she ran to his side, about to heal him only for him to raise a hand to stop her.

"Don't worry... guts... GutsMan... made a Backup of himself this morning... guts..." he panted out before his body was deleted.

"Awwww, a _Backup_? What a pain in the ass. That's practically a _cheatcode_," the dog-like navi said dismissively, the pink-colored Navi's ire rising only for Glyde to hold her back. Even _if _GutsMan had been able to back himself up, it would still take days if not weeks for Dex to re-calibrate him to the way he was before Deletion, and he didn't want Maylu to have to go through that.

"That's enough! Just who are you?" MegaMan shouted as his arm configured itself into the MegaBuster, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

"Oh me? Just your friendly-neighborhood executioner, Onishiba. Souka Onishiba," he said with a condescending bow, sawed-off shotgun extended to his side.

"Well enough's enough! I don't know why you targeted Anonymous like this, or how you managed to get all these HeelNavis to do what you told them, but we're taking you down, and taking you in!" MegaMan shouted as he jumped onto the field before firing a ChargeShot from his buster, the massive purple round sailing through the air directly at Onishiba, the anthromorph dissipating the shot with his sawed-off shotgun in a single shot only for ProtoMan to appear immediately after the shot was fired with StepSword, blade descending to his exposed side, only for Onishiba to lash out with a snap kick, sending ProtoMan sailing right into MegaMan, the two of them flying through the air before slamming into the wall and making it collapse on top of them.

"Iris, get your sisters out of here and head back to the real world," Naruto said bringing the brunette up to her sisters.

"But Naruto, what about you?" Iris asked worriedly.

"I'll be fine. I've fought guys tougher than this," the blond replied. _I think... _he trailed off to himself as the three retreated, a bit of the pressure taken off of him as not only did the last of Colonel's sisters retreat, but so did, Roll, Meddy, and Glyde. This only left himself, MegaMan, ProtoMan, Anonymous, Pit, Sonic, Fox, Falco, Lucario, Pikachu, and Samus. _Wait a minute... _he trailed off. _Where are-_

"Now to answer the questions you've just been _dying _to have answered," Onishiba said emptying the spent cartridges from his sawed-off shotgun before loading a fresh pair. "I targeted _mystery boy _here because I was _told _to," he said jabbing a thumb at Anonymous, who flicked his wrist causing a glint of metal to leap out his sleeve before it was called back, the gesture unnoticed. "As for _how _I got all those useless punks to do what asked, well..." he said reaching into his coat pocket before pulling out a fistful of DarkChips. "You can put two and two together to make four, can't you?" he asked, the other's eyes widening in shock.

"Are you _mad_? DarkChips are extremely dangerous, to both the user and everyone around them!" MegaMan cried out. Before he could go on a rant about how they were dangerous to everyone _and _the user however-

"Which is exactly why I used them as motivators in the _first _place," he said as he tossed them in one hand before singling one out. To the everyone's shock however, instead of using the one and pocketing the _rest_, he pocketed the _one _while crushing the _rest_ in his hand. The next moment a maelstrom of DarkPower reverberated off his body in every direction, the dark storm shaking the Colosseum to its foundations and turning the entire place into a ruin as the winds tore through everything in their path, a massive DarkAura, larger than any of them had ever encountered, towering over Onishiba with a malicious glint in its three eyes. When the malignant power was absorbed by him, much to everyone's further shock, he appeared to have experienced no corruption from the DarkAura. "Oh, and did I forget to mention I'm immune to the corruption of the DarkChips? Something as trivial as this, is nothing more than a cool breeze against my fur," he said brushing some of it back through his fingers.

"That many DarkChips... the energy readings are off the scale..." Samus spoke before a crack suddenly appeared across her visor, Pikachu worrisomely looking up at her, only for the bounty hunter to stroke his head. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine."

_"All of that malignant intent, and yet he remains unchanged... Never before have I felt an aura this powerful,"_ Lucario said as he disengaged his senses, Onishiba's aura as-is nothing more than a black void, threatening to suck everything in.

"I've faced my fair share of _Final Boss characters_, but this guy's something else," Sonic said with a grin on his face as he flicked his thumb across his nose, anxiously awaiting the challenge. _Final Boss_-level characters like this were always tough in the beginning, but once you broke down their pattern it was childsplay.

"So what do we do then?" Pit asked, a bit worried that his angelic weapons would fall short of beating this guy. He'd fought Medusa more than once in his career, but this malignant aura was almost stronger than even _hers._

"We do what we've always done in the face of insurmountable odds!" Naruto shouted as he stepped up. "We charge in head-first, and _kick _this guy's ass!" he shouted as he ran forward, the others doing so to engage, Onishiba's eyes glinting as he took a step forward, only to suddenly disappear from view. "What the-OOF!" Naruto cried as a sandaled foot was suddenly buried into his gut, knocking the air out of his lungs as he doubled over.

**"One Hundred Blood Oath Kicks!"** the dog man shouted as he kicked the blond 1000 times, the kicks connecting so quickly the blond wasn't pushed back until the final one, which sent him spiraling backwards and into a wall, which collapsed on top of him as soon as he hit the ground. The next moment the sky darkened, and Pikachu rushed at him top-speed, covered in electricity before diving right at his chest only for the dog-man to catch the fearsome Volt Tackle on the bottom of his heel. Sending the electric mouse pokémon high into the air with a snap kick, the sky brightened up again from the end of the Final Smash, only for it to darken once more, Samus' Zero Laser catching his leg as it came back down, the groove made by Pikachu lengthening considerably as the blast carried him backwards, only for Onishiba to lash out with a snap kick with a shout of- **"Heaven Rending Heel!" **-, the shockwave slicing the Zero Laser in half down the middle and to the siges. Right as Samus' armor digitized and transformed into a Super Class battlechip with her helmet on it, the air wave struck her head-on and sent her tumbling backwards, bowling Naruto over right as he pulled himself up. "Come now, is that the best you guys got?" Onishiba asked as he dusted off his jacket.

"Not even _close_!" Sonic said as he rushed by Onishiba with Excalibur in hand, only for the dog-man to bring his sawed-off shotgun to guard before shooting at Sonic, only for the blue blur to have already bolted off. Pit soon swooped in and slashed at him with his twin swords only for the dog-man to dodge the swipes and lash out with a snap kick to his stomach sending him back. Dropping into a crouch and lashing out with a roundhouse kick, he tripped Sonic up and sent him rolling right into Naruto after he and Samus had distangled themselves, said blond blushing slightly since her Zero Suit left little to the imagination

_"Metal Claw!"_ Lucario roared out as the bone spikes jutting up from his paws extended into long silver claws, blindfold over his eyes billowing in the breeze as Onishiba parried the attacks with his shotgun, which was soon damaged beyond use. Whipping out a pair of pistols with silver bayonets beneath the barrels, he and Lucario continued to lash out at one another before they separated, a hail of laser fire from Fox and Falco who strafed around him giving the jackal-like pokemon some breathing room. In response the dog-man deflected the beams with his bayonets before Lucario closed in from behind with a Force Palm, only for the attack to strike an empty coat as soon as the hit connected, Onishiba appearing behind Lucario and slashing his exposed back with a bayonet, only for Lucario vanish and lash out with an aura-powered kick a moment later, the two dancing around one another in a high-speed dance before Onishiba snapped out with a kick that doubled Lucario over, a heel drop to the skull sending him crashing into the floor, the jackal-like pokémon rolling out of the way of a bullet that would've gone between his eyes and caught Pikachu on the way down, Onishiba tossing his guns into the air as he slid his arms back into his jacket sleeves before arming himself once more and taking aim at the two pokemon. Before Onishiba's bullets could hit them, Fox and Falco appeared via Mirage before activating their deflector shields and deflecting the bullets. To their surprise, the continued onslaught managed to break through, the two's bodies riddled with bullet wounds before they were thrown out of the net.

"Fox/Falco: Logging Out."

"Hold on..." Onishiba said as he recognized something was off. The next moment a blue blur shot by him before an orange blast struck him in the chest, his body temporarily stunned as Samus in her Zero Suit rushed by him, her energy pistol lashing out at him with a whip and sending him skidding back, Pikachu latching onto the small of his back and shocking him, only for him to throw the electric mouse forward and stab him with his bayonets. To his surprise, Pikachu was soon replaced by Naruto via substitution, before he disappeared in a plume of smoke. "Shadow Clones. Pheh," he sighed as he aimed his pistol over his shoulder before shooting a round, a cry of pain ringing out as he got the blond right in the shin. "Now... Where is-" he trailed off before Anonymous dropped down from above, a blade hidden in his sleeve aiming for the back of his neck, only for the dog-man to stab his bayonets into the brunette's stomach before firing off a few rounds, throwing him off and a hand going to his stomach as he landed. "Anonymous, so nice of you to drop by," he said jovially.

"I don't care how powerful you are..." Anonymous growled as he forced himself to his feet, streams of data flowing out of his stomach and dissipating into the air around him. "I don't plan to give up without a fight."

"That's good then, because if you _did _come of your own free will that'd be-"

**"REPENT MOTHERFUCKER!"** two voices suddenly called out from above, the dog-man looking up and blood suddenly streaming out of his nose as two pantiless angels descended towards them, hexa-minigun and double-chainsaw roaring and ready to go. Panty's sandal-clad feet slammed down onto Onishia's shoulders nearly making his knees buckle, the dog-man readying his guns to counter only for the sight that immediately greeted him to make him pause. His face soon paled as the multi-barrel of the hexa-minigun was aimed right at his face, the blond smirking as she pulled the trigger fully back, hundreds of white-glowing mini-bullets pelting his form with each round pushing him further into the ground, the DarkAura wafting off his body evaporating little by little before the blond angel dismounted. The moment the dog-man wiped the blood from his nose, Stocking suddenly came at him from the front with her double-chainsaw, the mass of revolving teeth biting into his stomach with a mighty thrust. Though the DarkAura was the first to be targeted, being munched away at by the revolving teeth in a shower of black sparks, he was able to leap away at the last moment, if the state of his stomach was any indicator.

_Holy... If I had dodged a moment later, she would've gutted me like a fish, _Onishiba thought patting his shirt, a large tear mark made and a few strands of fur missing, showing just how close he'd been to being taken out.

"Don't worry guys!" Panty called over her shoulder. "Onii-San's Angels are here to save your asses!"

_"More like _Charlie's _Angels," _Onishiba said to himself as is face was still flushed red. Shaking it off, he withdrew the last DarkChip he had, about to use it for another round until a yellow bullet made of sunlight cut through the air and obliterated it, everyone turning to a remaining portion of the bleachers, a figure wearing a long scarf shadowed against the artificial sun in the sky.

"_*Gasp* _It's you!" Naruto gaped as he rolled Sonic off of him, the shadowed navi leaping into _-what was left of-_ the Colosseum as his identity was revealed, SolarGun with gleaming blade in hand.

"Move one inch... and you'll get a heaping helping of sunlight to the face," Solar said in as threatening a tone as he could manage, aiming his GunDeSolGX at the dog-man with end blazing.

"You sure you're not just going to give me a free tan?" the dog-man asked with a cheeky grin.

"Oh, looks like we have a _comedian _in the house, huh?"

"I aim to please," the dog-man replied.

"What was the point of placing that hit on Anonymous? You have a grudge against him or something?" Cain asked with a scowl from his Window, the effeminate male having a surprisingly assertive tone. Solar was slightly impressed with the gesture, since when he was first assigned to this guy, Solar honestly thought Cain was a chick.

"... A grudge, huh?... I guess you _could _say that," Onishiba suddenly said with a grin.

"For what purpose? What did Anonymous ever do to you?" Cain asked angrily.

"I'm really out for his _NetOp's_ hide, but until I find _him_, I'll settle for halfway by killing Anonymous here," he said jabbing a thumb at the cyber-enigma. "Unlike that big lug from before, _this guy _can't just bring himself back with a Backup. After all..." he said with a pause, before a fanged grin pulled itself onto his features. "There is no equivalent for a human soul."

"What kind of jibberish are you going on about now?" ProtoMan asked as he dug himself out.

_Anonymous... _MegaMan said looking to the enigmatic navi. _Are you like me? A human in life reborn as a program? But wait... _he said with a pause. _I came back through a Backup once before after I was deleted, so why not him? Something isn't adding up._

"12 years ago... The immortal sin committed by one human, who attempted to have his crimes absolved by an ill-gotten witch... Once you are all out of the way, we shall eliminate all who shared the traveler's path," Onishiba said cryptically with a malicious grin. Listening in from the cloaked Window over Anonymous' shoulder, Onii-San's body seized up at the mention of the words "absolve" and "witch", his head once again on the verge of splitting as memories flooded into his mind. None however pointed towards why Arma wanted him dead.

_Twelve years... Didn't Arma Geddon's tale take place around the same time? _Naruto asked himself as the gears began to mesh. _What exactly happened back then?_

"Personally, I don't care one way or another for Subspace," Onishiba said aloud. "_But_... the boss' orders are absolute. Sorry, but it's time to die," he said aiming his pistols at Anonymous, cocking back the hammers and readying to fire.

"Not by a long shot!" Cain shouted angrily. "Trick Vent! Battle Chip in! Download!" he called out, nine duplicates of Solar being created, making a total of ten.

"Eat this!" the clones shouted as they whipped out the Ninja, a hail of sunlight-colored bullets sailing at Onishiba forcing him to dodge, the cover fire giving Anonymous time to get to his feet and get away.

"Sorry, man, not hungry," Onishiba replied coolly as he shot every clone in the head with expert precision, before rounding and pointing his pistols at the original's head, who was a foot away from having the Ninja pistols at his opponent's skull.

"You're good," the dog-man said after a moment's silence. "I'm surprised. To think there was another with immunity to the DarkSoul. I must say, I'm genuinely impressed, and it take a lot to do that."

"Oh? You could tell that by just looking?" Solar asked with a strained grin. "Immunities aside, something tells me you're holding back. The Anarchy Sisters may've extracted most of the DarkSoul from you, but there should still be enough that you'd have more power than you're showing. What, don't like to flex your muscles?"

"You could say that. In my opinion, only those who are arrogant or can't think ahead flaunt their strength; I see it as a sign of weakness."

"You _do _now, do you?" Solar asked as he lunged forward, only for Onishiba to sigh, blocking Solar's pistol whip with a sidestep and a palm strike to the elbow. Attack turned off-angle, Onishiba grabbed his opponent's scarf before throwing him onto the ground, left foot stomping down on Solar's right hand before he could grab his weapon, the dogman's hand extended in a jab position just above piercing Solar's neck.

"Checkmate," Onishiba smirked.

"That's far enough!" ProtoMan shouted as he sent a SonicBoom at the dog-man, who merely leaned out of the way. "What is the SubSpace Army after? What are they planning for this world?"

"Can't tell ya," he replied honestly, the red-armored navi about to interject before he was cut off. "Let me finish. I can't tell you because I don't _know _enough. Sure I'm a high-ranking officer, but that doesn't mean I'm part of their inner circle with my master, _or_ privy to all their little secrets."

"Then who _is _your master?" Naruto demanded as he stepped up alongside ProtoMan, MegaMan, and Anonymous, forming a loose perimeter over the dog-man, who removed his hand from Solar's throat.

"Hm. You'll find out soon enough," Onishiba said with a dark grin.

"Not good enough!" Lan shouted as his window appeared over his navi's shoulder. "Gregar! Battle Chip in! Download!" he said slotting in the green and orange star'd chip, a torrential swirl of crimson energy shooting upward from his body as he released a loud roar. At the same time, Solar withdrew the Witch and fired a round at Onishiba's face, the dog-man stepping off the solar-themed navi right in time for the torrent to pass and for BeastOut MegaMan to lunge at his opponent with claws at the ready, ProtoMan following behind with Sword and WideSword combo, with Naruto trailing behind with a pair of clones generating spiralling spheres in his hands. BeastOut MegaMan unleashed a fireball from behind his mask at Onishiba, who simply parted the flames with a kick before he began deflecting MegaMan's claw swipes.

"I've hear of a fight _going to the dogs_, but this is going kinda overboard don't you think?" Onishiba asked as he continued to effortlessly dodge the frenzied swipes.

**"As if I care!"** MegaMan growled. **"You attacked my friends, and tried to assassinate an ally! You used DarkChips to put countless lives in danger, and you're a part of the organization threatening to destroy our world!"**

"Your point being...?" Onishiba asked dismissively.

**"That you're evil! And I have to stop you!" **the now-wolf-themed navi spat dryly as he went in for another swipe, only for Onishiba to throw him over his shoulder and slam him into the ground. ProtoMan then activated the LongSword chip and launched the LifeSword's wave at Onishiba, who simply kicked it in half with the Heaven Rending Heel before the blond brought his Twin Rasengan forward, only for the dog-man to catch them both, sparks flying off his fur as a grin pulled itself onto his features.

"Aren't we _all _evil on the inside? Good can't exist without evil, darkness can't exist without light, and vice versa. A world without evil? Pah! Words more ignorant, hypocritical words have never been spoken. There's a _reason _all creatures exhibit the Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Gracious Virtues. It's to create balance between the two halves of the same world," he said as he crushed the two Rasengan like balloons, the blond's eyes widening before he received a foot to the face that sent him spiraling backwards once again, Lucario and Samus catching him before he could ram into another wall, his NaviMark flashing before returning to normal.

"Good and evil _are _necessary for the balance," Anonymous said as he got to his feet, his Recovery1000 repairing the damage to his stomach completely. "However what _you _plan to do threatens to destroy both. Who's the hypocrite _now_?"

"Still you!" Onishiba growled as he rushed forward, only for Anonymous to draw a battlechip from his pocket and crush it in his hand.

"Double Soul: Zer0. Battle Chip in. Download," the brunette called out before his form changed drastically right as Onishiba's bayonets and bullets connected, only for the one hit to rezz out before reappearing on his right, Solar's Knight thrown through the air and landing in his hand before the shot fired out, scratching Onishiba's cheek as he rolled with the damage before coming to a stop, taking note of Anonymous' changed form.

This one was clad in a gray bodysuit with portions of light-gray-alternating-to-white armor on his chest, shoulders, and hips, a red **0 **printed over his heart and tabi-like shoes on his feet. In one hand he held Solar's Knight pistol, while in the other he carried a long straight-edged katana-like blade, its edge glowing electric blue. Last was his helmet which encompassed his entire head and colored gray, a swept-back visor obscuring his features.

"Oh come on. That guy... girl... _thing_? You must _really _be scraping the bottom of the barrel for Double Souls huh?" Onishiba grunted as he wiped the blood off his cheek with his sleeve.

DS Anonymous merely responded by readying his sword, a holographic **:( **appearing in front of the narrowed visor before he rushed forward, Panty and Stocking slipping around his sides before rushing at Onishiba with their own weapons, the dog-man feeling his face heat up as the two lunged at him with a double heel kick, the dog-man repelling them before dodging a shot from the Knight in DS Anonymous' hand. Raising a pistol and shooting it out of his grip, he fired off another volley at DS Anonymous himself, only for the enigma to once again disappear as the bullets pierced a hologram, the dog-man bringing his twin bayonets to bear behind him as his opponent lashed out with another attack, camouflage once again failing.

"That move won't do you any good. You might be able to hide from my eyes, but not from my nose," Onishiba said with a grin.

"Oh yeah? Well what about _this_?" a voice suddenly called out, Onishiba's back suddenly going rim-rod straight as a foreign presence invaded his body. Glancing to the right, he caught sight of a vastly different orange-clad navi from before.

Crouched with his hands in the Rat Sign, Naruto now had a spiky black hair pulled back making his head resemble a pineapple. His new attire consisted of a fishnet bodysuit beneath a gray short-sleeved shirt and green compartmentalized vest, gray shorts on his legs and blue sandals on his feet. Set onto his left bicep was a NaviMark that resembled a few bricks out of a brick wall, only with wavy horizontal lies. Looking to his feet, he saw that the now-brunette's shadow had pooled beneath his feet like oil, and that it had stretched all the way across the field and connected to his own.

"How do you like _this_? I think I'll call this Style Change: Brilliant Shikamaru. Pretty cool huh?" he asked with a grin as he finally had the anthromorph right where he wanted him, tightening his hold on Onishiba as much as he could for all the trouble he'd been giving them.

"About as cool as watching _paint _dry," he retorted dryly. "Clearly a borrowed idea, _no _originality whatsoever."

"We'll see how cocky you are once I do _this_!" Naruto shouted as he tightened his form of the Rat Sign. "Shadow Neck-Binding!" he called out as a black tendril wound itself up Onishiba's left leg, before it began spiraling around his chest, coalescing into a hand that went for his throat as he was further bound in place. "Now everyone! Hit him with everything you've got!" he called out, those who were able to firing their most powerful projectiles at Onishiba only for him to call out-

**"BANISHING CRIME!"** he exclaimed as his eyes widened and his pupils shrunk. The next moment, everyone's projectile techniques and attacks suddenly vanished, Naruto's hold on him evaporating completely. "Like I just said, that technique's name is Banishing Crime, and like you just saw, it completely eliminates any attacks within my territory. I was hoping _not _to have to unveil it, but..." he railed off as his eyes went to the watch on his wrist. "It looks like I've got other places to be and not a lot of time to get there, so it looks like you're off the hook for now. So, until the next time you wind up on my schedule, I'll leave you with this little parting gift," he said reaching into his pocket.

"Stop him!" ProtoMan shouted, since whenever Onishiba had used a battle chip from his pocket, things always went badly for them.

"DarkChip: Corpse Soil! Battle Chip Activate!" he said as he drew another DarkChip from his pocket before slamming it into the ground, this one colored in shades of red instead of purple. The next moment a crimson wave rolled across the ground, the ground shaking before a hand burst upwards, then another, before dozens of HeelNavis began to rise out of the ground like in horror movies, much to MegaMan's ire, the collective in various states of disorder and decay, their eyes glowing an off-yellow color, and a bellowing moan left their throats. "See ya! Wouldn't wanna be ya!" he called out over his shoulder before he ran off.

"Fuck! Dog boy's getting away!" Panty cursed as Onishiba retreated from the Colosseum.

* * *

Meanwhile, with Onishiba running through the Cyberworld's corridors…

"Shit, shit, SHIT!", Onishiba hissed under his breath. "Not only did I underestimate the targets, but now I'm late for my next job. And I HATE tardiness!" he shouted before an ankle suddenly jutted out into his path from behind the wall, his foot catching causing him to fumble over his feet before slamming into a wall. "So... clichéd..." he groaned as he rubbed his head, DS Anonymous stepping out from the shadows like a ninja.

"Maybe so, but I find the classics always stay in style," DS Anonymous said with laser katana drawn as he rushed forward, only for Onishiba to round on the original from behind, barring his attack once more.

"Haven't I told you already? Decepti0n doesn't work on me," Onishiba said as he blocked Zer0's laser katana.

"It doesn't have to. All I have to do is stall you," DS Anonymous said as he suddenly flickered out of existence. From behind where he was, a bright flash from the GunDelSol's scorching shot singed Onishiba's fur before he rolled out of the way, the dog-man rendered blind as acrid smoke rose off the ends of his fur and clothes. Before DS Anonymous and Solar could apprehend him, the dog-man drew a black ball from his coat before slamming it onto the ground, a mass of Shadow Bugs enveloping his being before they scattered in an unseen wind. With that, he vanished, no trace to be found or to follow up on.

"Drat... he got away," Solar cursed, his fist going to the wall and leaving a dent.

"It's alright," DS Anonymous said as he returned to normal, collapsing against the wall with a sigh. "We've chased him and his dregs off. It'll be harder for another attack of this scale to be launched, now that efforts to reinforce the firewalls above the set standards have been deemed necessary."

"Anonymous... I have a question for you," the scarf-wearing navi said as he leaned against the wall as well. "Why did Onii-San give me away like he did? I mean, Cain takes good care of me, keeps me updated and everything, but I just... I want to know why he put so much effort into making me immune to the DarkSoul, giving me all these cool weapons, if he was just going to give me away to a _flowerboy._"

"It's because if you _hadn't _been given away, with nothing to prove yourself up against," Anonymous said jabbing a thumb at himself. "You wouldn't have the drive to become stronger. To prove you shouldn't have been given away in the first place."

"That's... uh... I just don't get you," Solar sighed. "Think we should help the others with those HeelZombies?" he said as the sound of terrified screams rung out from what was left of the Colosseum.

"The NetPolice can handle that if our friends can't. I'm heading home, going to bed, and not getting up until this all blows over," Anonymous said as he threw something onto the ground that flashed brightly, Solar having to blink his eyes a few times before his sight returned, only to find Anonymous gone.

* * *

**Author's Note: I'd like to thank Dr. Weird for being so patient with the development of this chapter. Onishiba is a character designed by him for use in this story. The _Style Change: Brilliant Shikamaru _is a following-up of the Style Changes previously seen so far (Mighty Sakura, Noble Hyuuga). Phoenix's Burst Mode: Blazing Combo, is based off of Kamen Rider OOO's Taka Kujaku Condol/TaJaDol Combo. Anything else recognizeable to a specific franchise, I do not own.**

**Oh. But wait. There's more.**

* * *

Meanwhile, high in the sky in a distant corner of the ether, MetaKnight had been wandering around the Halberd for what felt like forever, and as much as he didn't want to admit it… He was lost. Somehow, the SubSpace Army had made the interior of the Halber larger than the 3s534io4, much like the Final SubSpace Zone Tabuu had created in order to increasehis own power. Most of the corridors were similar to the Halberd itself, what with the unique myriad of traps, various SubSpace Army patrols, and the occasional door to another area entirely. At first he'd entered the ship through a maintenance hatch on the side of the ship, but any attempt at making a map without any real sense of orientation proved futile.

_It feels like I've been going in circles… It's almost as if someone wants me evicted from here simply by inflicting the loss of senses and orientation… a normal person would go mad, _Meta-Knight thought with certain conviction. _But not me; not while my pride is on the line, _he thought to himself, not wanting to end up like Mario, though given, there was a difference between the two ladies in their lives. Mario's was a petite princess of her own country, while _his _is a little more "heavy-set" and can take out a small country. Eventually, his persistence was rewarded him with a small shining patch of brilliance ebbing at him in the air ducts.

_I know that 'walking towards the light' thing's a death cliché, but it's better than nothing at this rate._

Slowly shuffling towards the luminous vent opening, he peered through the blinds, and obscured the view inward with his cape and mantle, providing enough shadow to remain unnoticed.

It wasn't very easy to surprise Meta Knight, that was for certain. But what he heard next certainly had something to say to that.

"I see. Kirby is dead."

"!" Meta Knight mentally gasped.

"_F'course, master._", came a scratchy Primid's voice on an LCD screen. "_He was minding his own business. Munching on some Oreos b'fo' one-a-me_ _chaps blew 'is head open like a rigged watermelon. Sorry ta disappoint ye, boss, but there's still no answer to how Kirby's stomach works. I guess that's th' way…_",the Primid trailed before slowly putting on a pair of sunglasses and looking at the figure in the room. "…_the cookie crumbles._", the Primid concluded with his slight Cockney accent.

The figure in the room burst into laughter, much to Meta Knight's surprise.

"Ahhhh, a Horatio Caine joke. And who says Primids don't have a fine sense of humor? I don't see where they get the idea you're all mindless."

"Your praise is truly appreciated, Master. Also, the top operatives are in position. Onisiba has just returned from his assignment; he got into a scruff with the NetSaviors and Smashers, but returned without being back-traced. _And _he got both jobs taken care of without any problems."

The figure grinned. "The data retrieval? _Both of them?_"

"Even with death staring 'im in the face, Sir Onishiba is one-of-a-kind; we all know he won't go down that easily. Wouldn't be surprised if another of them blokes were killed off"

The figure's grin widened. "Excellent…!"

Meta Knight began to fidget. _Kirby's_…_dead? No, that __can't be__!... And now they say others are joining him? It has to be a lie! But this aura… it's not fake either..._"

Meta Knight kicked the air vent downward and charged at the shadowed figure. His rage was unparalleled. However, the Star Warrior failed to see that the figure warped behind him, and precariously tapped him on the forehead area of his mask, cracking it down the middle, a red pentagram mark painting itself on his forehead. A moment later he crashed and lost consciousness.

"I knew this whole 'Kirby is dead' façade would work like a charm. I even went to great lengths for this little sketch to seem as subtle as possible, and now… you, my rotund little friend… _will be working for __us __now_!" the shadowed figure said with a malicious grin as Meta Knight's eyes flung open, a dimmed yellow glow present as he sluggishly walked forward, the Star Warrior walking toward the Halberd's helm before taking the wheel.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the deepest, darkest depths of the Cyber World, the retreating HeelNavis and dregs of the UnderNet returned to their home with a bit of relief in their cybernetic hearts, having performed a mass exodus after the nutjob with the minigun mowed down countless of their brothers. They had thought with their numbers at over 100-to-1 that they would've had the advantage after initial projections, however, after the _Smashers _and those two angel-like Navis appeared, some had thought with a 50-to-1 advantage at the least that some of them they would've succeeded anyway, albeit with a little hard work. Yet once again, the netnavis of the OverNet seemed too powerful for them.

"No not worry my brethren. Our day will come soon," an exhausted black-armoed HeelNavis with a missing arm huffed as he stood on a tall spire. "While the more foolhardy of our allies used their DarkChips almost immediately upon getting them, _we _were wise enough to keep ours, until a better opportunity approaches us," he said raising his remaining fist into the air, a pair of DarkChips held between his knuckles.

As the remaining HeelNavis cheered, some raising their acquired DarkChips up in victory while the more paranoid among them chose to keep them concealed, a shadowed figure, whose body was badly fragmented and damaged, skulked amongst the edge of the throng. Quick as a thought, its hands went over his prey's mouth before it pulled them back and drove its free fist through their backs, assimilating what it could their data before pocketing the DarkChips they once had. This went on for a few minutes before feral eyes turned towards the one-armed HeelNavi atop the spire, a malicious grin forming before it circled around, the HeelNavi up top stepping down after boosting the troop's moralle. As he reached the bottom of the spire, out of sight of the others, he noticed a lone figure in black and purple armor approaching him, most likely for a little one-on-one time with a veteran.

"Man, you look like you've had a rough day," the HeelNavi noted as the lone figure approached him, receiving a throaty growl in return. "Not much of a talker eh? That's cool. So... Where'd you get that helmet?" he asked taking note of the figure's uniquely-shaped helmet, only for a hand to lash out at his throat and hoist him into the air, impeding his speech as his limbs flailed about angrily. The figure, holding a dozen DarkChips in his hand, shocked the HeelNavi by crushing them in his palm all at once, a massive DarkAura rising over the upcropping and alerting the collective horde to its presence. With a throaty growl over its shoulder, the malignant spirit of the DarkAura seemed to... _submit_, to the figure's whim, being completely absorbed into its body. Within moments as a thin black miasma wafted off its form, the cracks, dents, and breaks in his armor, visor, and mis-matched shoulder guards began repairing themselves. Once repairs were complete, the one-armed HeelNavi's throat was crushed with a **SNAP**, two DarkChips falling into the figure's hand.

"Hey! This guy's stealing DarkChips!" a voice shouted from behind it, the helmed figure turning around to see a small but growing mob gathering around him, comprised of the various dregsof the UnderNet, each fisting their own DarkChips defensively after what they had just witnessed.

"Let's show this fucker what happens when you try to steal and not split the takings!" one shouted as he crushed his DarkChip in his hand, DarkAura rising off his body, as did it for several more HeelNavis, the odds over 300-to-1. The helmed figure simply crushed the two new DarkChips in its hand, a throaty growl leaving its throat as the doubly-large DarkAura submitted to its will before being absorbed into the figure's body, purple and black-colored armor bleeding to white and brown as the figure walked towards the thickest gathering of dregs at his back, the last of the cracks across its visor repairing himself. With a furious scream the dregs chared forward, some doping themselves up on the DarkAura while others readied their best _-and illegally modified- _weapons and lunged at the white-and-brown-armored figure head-first. In response the lone figure simply strode forward like one would across an open field they had to themselves, a throaty growl rising from its throat as eyes glowed bright red behind the golden visor.


	12. New Faces & New Challenges

**First and foremost at over 32,000 words, this may be the longest chapter in NEXE: SubSpace up to date. If not, than it's a pretty long chapter, and you should clear your schedule and/or grab a sandwich if you want to read this one in a single go. I've put the utmost of my literary ability into this chapter, so tell me what you think. REVIEW PLEASE!**

**And start chapter.**

* * *

Shortly after Onishiba had retreated, the NetPolice finally decided to show up and earn their pay, allowing everyone else to leave without having to worry about the HeelZombies taking over NetCity like something out of a crappy horror movie where the world's netnavi population gets turned into zombies. Snake, Fox, and Falco were all found back in the real world from where they entered the cyber world from, knocked out until they could come to. With the crisis averted, for the time being, this allowed an important question to be asked.

When asked just _how _the Smashers had been coming and going from the real world to the cyber world at their discretion, without using the yet-to-be-perfected Cyber World Gate in SciLab or through Rush's NetHoles, Samus answered by drawing out a silver-colored badge, lines of digitized code running along the outer perimeter with a robot-like face printed on it. She said its creator called it the R.O.B. Pass, and was by their world's standards similar in principle to Dr. Wily's Reverse Synchro Chips. The badges themselves were used by pointing it at an infared jack-in point and in a flash you were in the cyber world. The primary constraint however was that even though they could re-materialize in the real world out of the cyber world once they were done, they could not materialize outside _other _jack-in ports. This essentially meant if they wanted to travel anywhere, they had to do it the old-fashioned way. When the NetNavis-turned-humans or NetHumans as they called themselves, asked about getting some R.O.B. Passes for themselves, the bounty hunter said she'd contact Rob and see about it.

For the Smashers themselves, some were acclimating to having to hide better than others, after it became evident things with SubSpace wouldn't be resolved after a few scuffles here and there. This was going to be a long, drawn-out conflict on a new war threat, and some simply had to adapt to the new circumstance.

After finally being convinced to remove her Zero Suit, Harukawould take Samus out with her whenever she went into town for something, though the bounty hunter would always keep her Stun Gun on hand just in case. She may've been marginally more vulnerable without her armor or Suit, but she was more than a match for the common criminal, a point she enunciated when a pair of muggers attacked her and Harukaafter grocery shopping, only for the blond to leave them as a bloody smear on the ground. They just didn't make bad guys like they used to.

Snake had similar reservations to removing his gear, though eventually took to wearing some of Yuichiro's baggy sweat shirts and sweatpants so he could leave the Hikari residence. He still carried his grenades, C4, mines, and pistol, but it was a compromise nonetheless. After Haruka had nearly beaned him over the head with her frying pan for smoking indoors, the man's CQC almost putting her in a headlock had Samus not intervened at the last moment, he'd walk around town to do so. Every once in a while he'd be attacked by street punks or someone looking to make an easy buck, but they were usually left unconscious behind a bush or in a dumpster somewhere.

Lucario was acclimating to the peaceful times quite well after settling himself in Maylu's attic, having dusted the place out to make it quite livable. For most of the day he meditated since he neither cared for TV or what was happening in the net community. The only times he left were for meals _-Maylu and Rain still trying to figure out how he used chopsticks with paws- _and for his midnight runs in the cover of darkness, his black and blue coat helping him blend into the night, while his superhuman dexterity and stamina kept him out of the public's eye. He actually _had _been spotted a few times when he dropped down into the light to stop some muggings and would-be-rapists, but oddly enough the black markings around his eyes made people think he was just a superhero. At the least he had a bit of freedom in that regard.

Diddy was a simple creature of sorts, happily prancing about like a monkey in the Oyama's backyard, and no one paid him any mind when he was out in the open, apart from his vest and cap. Pikachu, living at the Ayano residence, had a fair degree of freedom, easily passing himself off as an exotic pet, though he did not directly try. Pit merely had to fold out his wings against his back to pass himself off as a regular human, and while his initial step into the wing of the Ayanokoji house rigged with booby traps had initially been an error on his part, he and Naruto eventually came to use it for training, the two testing their times against one another, with fresh challenges available since the array and arrangement of traps was changed out from time to time.

Sonic... really wasn't acclimating as well as the others. While he technically _was _a hedgehog, he was far more anthromorphic than Pikachu, and thus couldn't pass himself off as an exotic animal, or pet. Not to mention that unlike Pit, his unique features couldn't be hidden for too long if people paid too close attention to him, even while in disguise. Suffice to say he was going stir crazy, and a stir crazy guy capable of kicking the sound barrier in the nards was _never _a good thing.

* * *

It was now late into the morning, almost the afternoon, and with things beginning to quiet down before _something _came out of the woodwork to attack them again, everyone decided to go to the park and do _nothing _for once. After what had happened with Onishiba, MegaMan had to recover in his NetNavi form, otherwise his NetHuman form wouldn't survive materializing. At the moment all in attendance from the real world were Lan, Maylu, Dex & Shisao, and Yai. In attendance from the cyberworld were Iris, Megumi, and Rain, Rush dozing in the grass off to the side. For the past few weeks he'd been hiding out in Roll's PET, but with things calming down a bit, he saw fit to come out again, content to do nothing with the others.

"Lan. Where'd Naruto say he'd be going this morning?" Iris saw fit to ask, looking away from the skyline as she imagined the clouds as different objects.

"Something about getting his last paycheck from the newspaper," Lan answered, the others looking on in confusion. "Commander Fish photos just don't sell like they used to, and CF has been appearing less and less as the police become more proactive."

"That's good though, isn't it?" Jasmine said as she munched on a riceball. "It means we can rest easier."

"Maybe, but with all the bad guys that have been showing up, I'm not sure how many of these quiet days we'll have," Yai sighed. With enemies from SubSpace substantializing in the real world, and Darkloids from the past being resurrected, it was only a matter of time until the guy in charge of all this decided to reveal herself.

Or at least she _hoped _it'd be that simple. After that mess with the giant Cybeast materizling in the real world a while back, and the planet-spanning Dimensional Area before _that_, and what with the brawlers from other dimension appearing _now_, there seemed to be no _end _to the lunacy. For all she knew the entire planet would wind up _eaten _for all she knew.

"Hey guys, is it just me, or am I the _only _one curious as to who Onii-San really is?" Lan questioned out of nowhere.

"Well _obviously _that isn't his real name," Maylu stated aloud.

"Why do you think he has himself addressed by honorifics? They're so outdated," Dex huffed lacing his fingers behind his head.

"Maybe it's _because _they're outdated," Chisao suggested.

"You could be right about that," Jasmine replied.

"Something that's been bugging me," Lan started. "That Onishiba guy, he said something about Anonymous having a human soul or something like that. MegaMan, is it possible he's like you? A NetNavi created using human DNA, reborn as a NetNavi?" Lan asked looking into his PET screen, the finalization of MegaMan's repairs occurring even now.

"I can't say for sure. It's possible that Pulse or Psychotransmission are involved as well, however those are purely theoretical concepts, and even if Anonymous _was _just a human, most of what we'd seen done to him would've easily killed a human in the cyber world."

"I guess he's aptly-named then. Completely anonymous with no real indicators as to who he is. By the clothes he's wearing he could simply be using a FashionChip and just be a really strong NetNavi," Rain theorized, having used FashionChips in the past. Of course when you compare it to having a real body and _real _clothes... there really wasn't any comparison.

"Yeah, I suppose we never entertained _that _possibility," Megumi stated.

"Hey, come to think of it, we haven't seen that Bolt guy in a while," Lan thought remembering back to that _really _crazy Saturday afternoon a few months back. "Where do you think he ran off to?"

"Don't know. Didn't really get his contact info with everything that was going on," Maylu returned.

"Hey Lan, Maylu, Yai! Is that you guys?" a familiar voice suddenly asked, the group getting up from the ground to see a familiar blond running up to them. "Hey it _is _you. Man, I thought I'd never run into you guys again," he said running up to them. This time his attire consisted of a blue T-shirt with a pink lightning bolt running across the chest, a black hoodie with yellow lightning bolts running down the chest, tan-colored shorts, and red and white running shoes with metal plates on the front.

"Bolt? Hey, Bolt! I thought I recognized you," Lan remembered as he got to his feet, having recognized the lightning bolt pattern on the kid's sleeve. "Where've you been all this time? We haven't seen you since those crazy Roaders attacked the town."

"Well, after what happened, I was kept inside until things quieted down a bit," the teen admitted.

"Do you live in DenTech?" Maylu asked.

"No, I live... far away, but for the time being I'm staying with my uncle while he teaches us a few things."

"Us?" Dex asked with a raised brow.

"My twin sister arrived a few days ago. You can meet her if you want," the blond returned before he called out over his shoulder. "Jane! Tyson! Over here! There are some people I want you to meet," he called out, two people coming around the corner and towards their direction.

The first figure was a girl around Bolt's age with long blue hair with blond highlights going down to the middle of her back with jade-colored eyes, around 5'7" in height. Her attire consisted of a blue long-sleeved jacket, a white shirt revealing a bit of her D16 chest _–the guy's naturally eyes drawn to it-_, hip hugger jeans, and blue running shoes with red lines down the middle with gold buckles on the sides.

Lagging along with the bluenette's help was a young man a couple years older than the two with short-cut blond hair and blue eyes standing around 5'8", a red hat with a metal **N-1 Grand Prix** plate on his head. His attire consisted of a loose-fitting black leather jacket over a white T-shirt with a black circle surrounded by a gray ring over his chest, faded blue jeans, and worn out black-and-red sneakers practically falling apart, yet still holding together. The reason he was lagging behind was due to the brace running itself up the course of his left leg indicating recovering injury, a silver cane in his hand supporting him as the girl helped him along by the arm.

"Come on, Bolt, you shouldn't run off like that. Honestly, you're as bad as your father," the limping blond chuckled, though his free hand went to his side a moment later as he cringed visibly.

"Uncle, you shouldn't strain your injuries. Why you went _hiking _of all things before I arrived, I'll never know," the blue-haired girl pouted.

"Sorry for slowing you two down," the blond man apologized as he scratched the back of his head. "So, these are the kids you met when those crazy unicycles attacked huh? I see you've made a good group of friends here."

"Guys, this is Jane, my twin sister," Bolt said pointing to the blue-haired girl, Lan, Dex, and Tory's eyes going to her chest every few seconds while Naruto managed to keep his eyes above her neckline now that the initial shock had passed. The _novelty _might not have, but he'd rather not be labeled a pervert. Labels like that never go away, just like bad marks on your permanent record. "The one with the bad leg is my uncle, Tyson Taisen."

"Hello, everyone," Jane greeted with a soft smile.

"What's up?" Tyson asked with a smile, though the spiky-haired blond couldn't help but feel he looked familiar.

"Ah! I just remembered something!" Bolt said bringing out his Link-model PET, colored red and white with gold accents. "My NetNavi just found out about a NetBattle Tournament coming up in a month or so. I wanted to tell you guys, but I didn't have your contact information. Glad I found you guys."

"Wow! A NetBattle Tournament? What's the name?" Lan asked excitedly.

"From what I hear it's called the Synchro Cup. And get this..." he said pulling up a holographic file for everyone to see. "These are only rumors, but apparently you need to have a base Synchro Rating of at least 50% if you even want to compete in the _preliminaries_."

"Why would they do something like that?" Dex asked.

"Well, this is all just rumor since it leaked a couple days ago, but..." the blond said as he looked around, making sure no one was within listening distance. "Apparently, with everything that's going on, the NetSaviors might be recruiting for new members, and since only people with high Synchro Ratings can Cross Fuse, it'd only make sense that they'd look for the ones most synchronized to their NetNavis."

"MegaMan, hey, MegaMan, you know anything about this?" Lan asked.

"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you if that's true or-" -_**BEEP- **_"Oh, you've got an email," MegaMan said from the brunette's shoulder as he opened an envelope, looking it over before his eyes widened. "Lan, I think that rumor Bolt picked up on is true. Your dad just sent me an email with details on how, to commemorate the new PET that's coming out, they're going to host a NetBattle tournament called the Synchro Cup to test out the newest feature; A Synchro Gauge that works real-time to help a NetOp further interact with their NetNavis."

"Whoa! That's awesome!" Naruto cheered as he looked to the PET Watch on his wrist. "I guess since this IS only a prototype, that a newer model would have to come out eventually."

"So, you kids thinking about entering this Synchro Cup that's going down?" Tyson asked.

"You bet I am! I'm always up for a challenge!" Lan said with a clenched fist and a wide grin.

"What about you, uncle? Are you going to enter?" Jane asked.

"I don't know. I'll wake my friend up and see how he's feeling," the blond said as he pulled out a laptop-esque PET in the shape of a hand sign. One of the _first _PETs much to everyone's surprise since practically everyone had moved past the Plug-in model ages ago and at the _least _had the Advanced PET at the lowest, Link PET at the most. There were still plug-based jack-in ports out there as part of the standard, but the infared jack-in system had almost completely dominated the electronics world. "Wake up, Basic. I have something to ask you," he said opening the top portion, which contained a keyboard while the screen was on the portion set above the handle.

"Good morning, Tyson. Did you remember to take your calcium and iron vitamins?" a monotone, emotionless sounding synthetic voice asked from the screen. The navi shown was your basic uncustomized NetNavi template; this one was clad in a forest green bodysuit that covered the lower half of his face, a pair of rectangular blue eyes set onto a light gray skintone. A matching helmet was on his head with a thin blue stripe running down the middle, gray guards on the sides and on his shoulders. He wore light gray gloves and boots that stopped below his joints, a blank NaviMark on his chest.

"_Yes_, Basic, I took my vitamins..." the blond said with a twitching brow, wishing his NetNavi wouldn't so openly broadcast it. "Anyway, there's a NetBattle tournament coming up. Do you feel like entering?"

"Well... I am normally not one to complain, but, despite your skill, the delay between action and reaction of this unit compared to others will eventually hinder you against those with newer models. Perhaps me entering is not such a good idea."

"Well then today's your lucky day. A new-model PET is coming out, and I figure we should get you a new home. What do you say?"

"That is acceptable," the NetNavi known as Basic said before the blond closed the PET and stashed it in his chest pocket.

"Good gravy, you still have _that _hunk of junk?!" Lan gaped incredulously. "I'm surprised your NetNavi can even _move_, let alone Net-" he went on to say before Maylu clapped a hand over his mouth and put him in a chokehold.

"Please ignore Lan, he doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut," the red-head replied trying to play off the brunette's lack of tact. Honestly, he practically _always _got the newest model PET, sometimes before everyone else, and every time he's gotten a big head about it. _What he needs the most right now is for someone to knock him _down _a few pegs, _she thought to herself, the bruentte's face slowly turning blue. What can I say? The girl's got one hell of a grip.

"I'm used to it. People think what's newest is _always _the best, but you can't quite beat the classics. Especially when you can do..." he said as he bopped Lan over the head with it. "That," he said catching the brunette with the flat. "I'd like to see someone do _that _with a Link PET."

"But if a new PET and tournament are coming up, then we've got to _prepare_!" Lan said ignoring the rising bump on his head. "We need to _get _the new PETs, software updates for our NetNavis, stock up on battlechips, and work on our Synchro Ratings! _I'll _be fine since I can cross fuse, but I can't say the same for-OW!" he cried as Maylu put him in another headlock, this time accompanied by a killer noogie.

"You know, you're _really _starting to get on my nerves!" Maylu shrieked as she gave it to him.

_Wow...Some lady needs to get _laid_, _Bolt thought watching the display.

_Hmm...Perhaps this is one fish that will be quite the catch, _Jane thought as she licked her lips, a shudder suddenly going up Maylu's spine giving Lan the opening he needed to get free.

"Since we're all going, I'll bring the limo around," Yai said putting Glyde on it. "On the way there, we can all get better acquainted," she said motioning to Bolt, Jane, and Tyson, the prior of which she'd only had little prior experience with.

* * *

"So... Tyson," Yai stated after everyone had exchanged names, as to get better acquainted with one another. "What do you do for a living exactly?" Yai asked the only adult in the back of the limo, one of her valets heading towards SciLab on the most efficient route.

"A part of where my money comes from is re-purposing BasicNavis into CustomNavis," he said pulling up a picture from his business portfolio up on his PET for everyone to see. On it was an image of a BasicNavi with the font **BEFORE **under it before it showed a clearly-modified CustomNavi, the aesthetic changes accompanied by several stat increases and the word **AFTER **underneath.

"But wait, if you can do that, why do you still have a BasicNavi?" Lan asked more sensibly, not wanting to get pulled into another headlock by the girl who really seemed to lay it _into _him. "From what I can see, you're pretty good at upgrading and customizing navis, so I just wonder why _you _don't have a CustomNavi."

"Well, technically I _do _have a CustomNavi, only, he needed to in for maintenance after that recent scuffle with NetCity because some HeelNavis got the jump on him while he was running an errand," he answered, garnering looks of confusion all around. "Basic here helps me with my customizing business, and while my CustomNavi's out for maintenance, I'll be using him for the time being."

"But why do you still have an old-model PET like that?" Dex asked.

"Since it's a plug-in model, if someone tries and steals my contracts, I can just pull the plug and isolate whoever's trying to cut into my profits inside my PET, since they can't simply escape using a wireless route," he answered. "You see, while CustomNavis can be made through automated programs to be updated further at a later date, CustomNavis modified from BasicNavis by _hand_ tend to be just as powerful as CustomNavis made from scratch. Modified navis can actually be worth more than _new _ones because the modified navis will not _only _have more battle experience than _green product,_" he said in refrence to new NetNavis with no battle experience to maximize their higher stats, "but they'll be able to maximize that power much sooner."

"That makes sense. My family has to fend off multiple attempts at robbery at least a dozen times each quarter, and that's for the ones that get past the fence," Yai remarked.

"So Bolt, I've been meaning to ask. What kind of NetNavi do you have? If you've got an uncle that customizes NetNavis, they've got to be _awesome_," Lan said exuberantly.

"Well... I wouldn't give him that much credit with _my _NetNavi. If you want to see impressive work you should see my _sister's_, but mine, we... kinda bumped into one another," Bolt replied bashfully.

"Oh? Can we see?" Maylu asked.

"Sure," Jane said with a smile as she withdrew a blue with white trim and red accents Link PET from between her breasts, the others and her brother blushing at the display _-though for different reasons-_ before the two of them brought their PET's forward and fired the infared beams into the cabin's console, a pair of NetNavis appearing on the TV screen, one familiar while the other looked similar to it.

"Ze-Zero...!?" Lan blurted out while the others gaped.

"Hello, Lan, everyone," Zero greeted.

"Z-Zero?! When did you become a NetNavi? I thought you stayed Solo," MegaMan asked from the brunette's shoulder, though he really _did _have to assume his human form before Bolt and company showed up, since _Zero _of all NetNavis belonged to him however, they might be able to let that secret slip out after all.

"Do you remember when I was on the verge of deletion, when we first met, only for the Source File you found that gave Dr. Hikari to seal of the Zero Virus function within me?" he asked, the blue navi nodding in return. "After I was reborn as a NetNavi, I wandered the Net, searching for someone I could call... _friend_. Then, Tyson's NetNavi..." he was about to announce his name, only for the blond to shake his head, "decided to bring me to Bolt. After a while, I agreed to become his NetNavi, shortly after we met up once again."

"But then if Zero is _Bolt's _NetNavi, then the blue one must be _Jane's_," Lan remarked as he pointed to the blue one beside Zero. This one was similar in build to Zero, taller than most NetNavis of his build, bearing a demonic take as well, and unlike Zero whose bodysuit was black with white accents, this one had a _white _bodysuit with _black _accents. His chest armor, forearm guards, and boots were blue with white highlights and green jewels, but unlike Zero's that came out in points, these one had bar shaped endings similar to MegaMan's own. His eyes were green instead of yellow while sharing Zero's jagged mouth, his helmet colored blue with white highlights set in a more rounded shape, a red sphere-shaped jewel inset at the top. Unlike Zero, who had a wide mane of cape-shaped hair, the blue-armored NetNavi had no visible hair, only a pair of red flame-like capes flowing from vents on his back.

"Everyone, meet X, my personal NetNavi and Zero's younger brother, made after reverse-engineering Zero by Uncle Tyson here," she said hugging him with a smile on her face.

"It wasn't that big of a deal," the blond said as he pat the bluenette's back in return. "Since he came with his own Source File, all I had to do was make a copy, but modify the AI to deal with projectile weapons instead of close-range like Zero's, since I didn't want to make a clone of him," the blond admitted as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Tyson, I don't know if you know this, but Zero's one of the most powerful NetNavis in the net right alongside guys like Bass, yet you're acting like X's creation is no big _deal_!" Lan gaped openly as he looked at Zero and X. Looking at the two, they seemed to resemble a demonic parallel between MegaMan and ProtoMan. _Man, Dr. Wily's going to flip when he sees this, _the brunette thought, considering Dr. Wily had frozen Zero for the explicit purpose of preventing the Zero Virus from getting out of control. Just by looking he could tell X was powerful, and if Zero was any measuring stick, Jane would be quite the contender for the Synchro Cup. If she managed to reach the mandatory 50% Synchro Rating that is.

"Even if you're facing the most powerful, over-modified NetNavi in the world, as long as you've got the skill to back it up, even a NetNavi like Basic here can win out," Tyson said pointing to Basic, though Lan had his doubts, given that MegaMan barely came up to Zero's waist.

"Just how powerful is X compared to Zero anyway?" Dex asked.

"Zero's more of an attack-type NetNavi while X is more of a defense-type. Separate, the two are powerful, but together, they're practically unstoppable, even for guys like Bass," Jane said confidently.

"What makes you say that? Have you even _seen _Bass before?" Lan asked incredulously.

"Not personally," Jane said shrugging her shoulders. "However, I have faith in my uncle's programming skills. He's one _hell _of a good customizer."

"How'd you get injured then?" Tory asked addressing the elephant in the room.

"Gunshot to the leg," he answered adjusting his grip on his cane. The tone he used implied he wouldn't delve into it any further. Injured guys were kinda territorial like that.

"You know, the guy who actually _made _Zero is at SciLab right now. We can have him analyzed to see how good X really is if you want," Lan suggested.

"It's Jane's decision, not mine," Tyson said waving his hand.

"I think it's a good idea. See how good X is beside Zero," the girl said with a grin.

"Man, this Synchro Cup is going to be _sweet_!" Lan cheered as he pumped his fist, only to recoil when his fist hit the ceiling, causing the others to facepalm wile Tyson, Jane, and Bolt just rubbed the bridge of their noses.

* * *

"So this is SciLab huh? Impressive. Did they renovate?" Jane asked as soon as everyone got out of the limo. It was a bit of a hassle to get it through the front gate, but Lan and Dr. Hikari got that squared away with a quick phone call.

"Yeah... Let's just say some freaky stuff happened and leave it at that," Naruto said scratching the back of his head.

"What kind of freaky? Giant monster freaky or killer unicycle freaky?" Tyson asked. It didn't take a genius to look out the window and see there was something off about that.

"Different kind of freaky..." Iris shuddered.

"Well come on then. Let's look at the new PETs already!" Lan said as he skated into SciLab, the others following only for Maylu to look over her shoulder, seeing that Bolt and Jane were lagging behind with their uncle in tow.

"Aren't you guys coming?" she asked, but fell silent when she remembered their uncle was injured with a leg brace and cane. _Stupid. Of course he'll be a bit slower than the rest of us, _she berated herself.

"Don't worry about me, I'll catch up. The two of you go ahead," he said waving the two off, Bolt and Jane giving him a nod before they ran off with Maylu to join up with the others, Tyson lagging along with cane tapping the ground and leg brace creaking. "Maybe I should've gotten that wheelchair after all," he sighed to himself with a chuckle as he continued on.

* * *

"Dad! Hub!" Lan called out as he skated into the lab, only to be tripped up by a cane that caught his ankle after he passed a row of desks, his face sliding across the polished floor for a few seconds before he stopped. Getting to his feet with steaming skin, Lan glowered at the man who had been his sworn enemy for no small number of years until just recently.

"Lan, the flooring at the lab is very expensive, and you'll scuff them with your in-line skates," the man said bringing the end of his cane down onto the floor. "Back in my day we didn't _have _in-line skates. We had to use our own to feet like _normal _people."

"When was that? Back when you rode the T-Rex to school."

"You should respect your elders, boy."

"Pain in the ass."

"Takes one to know one."

"Crazy old coot!"

"Upstart brat!" This of course was the scene that the others walked in on, Dr. Hikari and Mr. Famous simply watching the two bicker like children as the others tried to process what was going on.

"Hard to believe the two of them were mortal enemies, once upon a time," Mr. Famous spoke as the two pulled at one another's hair and faces like a pair of children.

"Yeah, Lan nearly had a heart attack when he saw Wily just working in the labs one day," Dr. Hikari chuckled nervously with a sweatdrop on his head.

_"Wily?"_ Bolt whispered in surprise to Jane._ "Oneechan, I thought Wily was just Uncles Scartch and Grounder in a dinosaur costume."_

_"That's for the Seikai Mother and Otou-kun came from before we moved to the Seikai_ they _made for the DaiRyuuseiDan and their friends if they wanted to not be separated,"_ Jane whispered quietly.

_"Oh yeah. Man, I just love our home in Kagutsuchi's Orient Town, don't you?"_ Bolt beamed quietly.

"Sorry I'm late, grabbed a soda on the way up. What'd I miss?" Tyson asked as he came into the lab, soda in one hand while his cane was in the other.

"Lan's arguing with his grandpa," Bolt replied.

"I'm/He's not his/my grandpa/gradnson!" the two snapped at Bolt.

"Well you act like it, you two," Jane pointed out, giving a small smile at that, "I think it's rather pleasant that your bonds are that strong."

"Uh..." the two looked at each other awkwardly.

_Wow. That visit from the Rabbit came in handy this time,_ Bolt thought.

"So...Uh..." Lan coughed, trying to get over the awkwardness. "Dr. Wily, there's a NetNavi that you need to look at, and you're the only one who can compare it to the original," Lan said, motioning both Bolt and Jane forward.

"Lan, there are _countless _scientists here who are just as qualified to analyze NetNavis as I am. Tell me exactly why _I _have to be the one to analyze the ones belonging to these two?" he asked as the two jacked in, the man's eyes widening as the red-armored Navi came into view. "Zero? Zero is that you?"

"Hello, father. It has been many years, has it not?" the virus-esque Network Navigator spoke, some degree of familiarity and fondness in his tone.

"It certainly has. I haven't seen you since Professor Toshihiko let you loose upon the world," he said before his eyes turned to the blue-clad navi beside him, hands slamming on the keyboard as he saw the similarities to Zero. "What in all blue blazes is this _thing _supposed to be?!"

"That _thing_, as you call him,just happens to be the NetNavi my uncle made for me, so don't you badmouth him!" Jane shrieked angrily at the old man.

"Oh? And just _who _is your uncle perchance?" the aged Dr. Asked, not losing his ground to a teenage girl of all people.

"That would happen to be _me_, Tyson," Tyson addressed himself as he up, Dr. Wily turning around and the two's eyes met. For a moment both their eyes widened in shock, however, they quickly steeled their expressions before they began glaring at one another. Within moments the tension began to mount around them, so thick you could cut it with a knife before the doctor spoke.

"Tyson. You look ridiculous," Dr. Wily spoke curtly with some degree of familiarity with the blond.

"And I see _you _have a few more _liver spots_," the blond returned without missing a beat, those watching on becoming confused with how the blond could so openly insult someone he'd just met. Dr. Wily was, well, himself, so insulting people off the bat was to be expected. Still, it seemed like the two of them _knew _one another.

"Hmph," Dr. Wily huffed, sniffing the air a couple times before replying- "Looks like you finally got the burnt hotdog smell out of your skin." –without missing a beat.

"Hey, it was _your _shitty equipment that made me smell like that in the _first _place!" Tyson growled back as he and Wily suddenly butted heads, low growls leaving both their throats, their violent auras manifesting in the form of a roaring tiger and a shrieking dragon behind them.

"Um, I might be missing something here, but do the two of you _know _one another?" Yai decided to hazard.

"Yeah. You could say that," Tyson returned as he backed off and put some weight on his cane, Dr. Wily doing the same.

"_How _exactly do the two of you know one another?" Dr. Hikari asked, wondering just where this conversation was heading.

"I had said that I had adopted Dr. Regal, Baryl, and Ms. Yuri when they were children. I never said they were the _only _children I took in and raised," Dr. Wily returned as though he were talking about the weather, the lab air soon filled with startled cries of- "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHH!?-!?-!?-!?" –by everyone that fully knew the ramifications of what was just revealed.

"U-u-u-uncle's Otou-san?!" Bolt exclaimed in shock.

"Oh my goodness!" Jane gasped before hugging Dr. Wily tightly. "I truly regret what I just said. I had no idea that our caring uncle was your son."

Unfortunately for the males watching, Dr. Wily was just a bit shorter than Jane, so his head was nestled between her ample figure until she released her hug. Once released he moved back from Jane, blushing a bit and coughed into a fist as he attempted to regain his composure.

"Well... Anyway..." Dr. Wily said adjusting his tie. "Now that I actually know _who _designed X, maybe now I can take a look at just how far you've come since you've left my employ," the aged doctor spoke as he walked over to the computer, so many questions left unanswered and so many answers so desperately wanted. "Hmmm... I see... Interesting..." Dr. Wily mused as he ran side-by-side comparisons of Zero and X's FrameData, CoreData, PersonalityData, and BattleData. "I will admit... This is good work, Tyson. I see you've _improved _a bit since you failed your last mission to World Three," he spoke finishing up the initial part of his analysis.

"Wait a minute! You used to work for World Three?!" Lan gaped as he and the others moved back.

"Only on a probationary basis, and the old codger here booted me out since I couldn't bring MegaMan down before the end of the N-1 Grand Prix," the blond replied tugging at the end of his cap. After the site of that monumental tournament sunk into the sea, the value of any reamining N-1 Grand Prix memorabilia had skyrocketed, while the cheap knockoffs didn't sell a single unit.

"Yeah but _still_-!" Lan stammered.

"That is _enough _boy!" Dr. Wily growled as he slammed his cane onto the ground, the loud -_**CRAK-**_ silencing everyone in the room. "Tyson left my employ ages ago, and this is the first time we've spoken in years. Whatever misconceptions you may have about him you should get rid of now. He found his own life after World Three fell, which is more than I can say for the _others_," the old man huffed, since it took Mr. Match, Maddy, Count Zap, and Yahoot a _long _time to finally give up on resurrecting World Three and live honest lives as curry chefs. It was a bit flattering that they'd go so far even after he was "gone", but the sentiment got old after a while. "So if you assume he's evil simply because of his past association with _me_, then you're no better than those who persecuted against _him_," the aged doctor said pointing his cane at Naruto, the deeper meaning behind his words settling in.

" . . . Sorry, Tyson, for overreacting like that," Lan found himself apologizing after a moment.

"It's alright. Honestly, I never thought I'd actually _meet _Dr. Wily again, but hey, small world huh?" he asked with shrugged shoulders.

"Yes, yes, we're all friends now," Dr. Wily said dismissively with a wave of his hand. "Now, let's take a look at what you've managed to create," the old man said as he went over the last of X's details, noting that in some ways, he was like an Anti-MegaMan; faster and stronger, and while not sacrificing speed, he had a much larger target profile that could be taken advantage of. "What the devil is this _CrunchByte _program supposed to be?" he asked as he pulled up their NaviCust screens, a rather... _curious_-looking program greeting him from a portion of X's Memory.

"Oh, just something to let them fight viruses if their hands are ever bound or otherwise preoccupied," Tyson said as he pulled a small black book from his coat pocket, which opened revealed it to be a Chip Folder with various kinds inside. "Here, you two. Show them just what CrunchByte is all about," he said as he tossed Bolt and Jane a pair of battlechips, one with a Mettuar while the other had a Billy on it.

"You got it," Bolt said as he snatched the Billy chip out of the air. "VirusChip in, download," he and his sister called out as they slotted the chips into their Link PETs, a mettuar and billy virus dropping into Zero and X's hands. Before anyone in the room could complain about the use of a VirusChip inside the lab computers, both Zero and X's jaws unhinged beyond normal limits, the two virus' eyes going wide as dinner plates at the large sets of gleaming fangs that now greeted them. Flail as they may, the two's maws soon came down upon them with a large -_**CRUNCH-**_, ripping large chunks out of their little bodies, all in the room speechless at what they just saw. A moment later after Zero and X shoved the remains of their _snack _down their gullets with a low -_**BYTE- **_sound, the two making swallowing sounds, Jane spoke up after the VirusChips left the **OUT **slots of their PETs.

"Uncle, here are your VirusChips back," the bluenette said handing them to her uncle.

"Much obliged," he said flipping a few pages of his black folder before sliding them into the back page where other blanks lie. Normally VirusChips were used to contain viruses, either in small or large numbers, until they could be disposed of properly if not initially. Never before though, had anyone seen them being used to store _snacks_. For _NetNavis_!

"Zero and X..." Lan started as his mouth finally started working again.

"Just _ate_..." Maylu gaped trying to process what she'd just seen.

"Those _viruses_..." Dex finished for the prior two. NetNavis didn't so much eat for nutrition as they did for pleasure or interactivity with their NetOps, just like how FashionChips were invented for the same reason, but for a NetNavi to eat a _virus _of all things...

"Why would you _make _something like that?!" Naruto cried out. Sure, he ate dead animals before, but never when they were still alive enough to look up at you _as _they ate them. Sure, Zero and X were Net/VirusNavis _–depending on who you ask-_ and viruses weren't technically animals, but still, seeing them do something like that out in the open was _terrifying_.

"For _why _I made something like that, it's actually a funny story," Tyson said with a wistful sigh as he took a seat in a chair propping himself forward on his cane. "Bolt and Jane had just gotten used to their netnavis and were taking them around the outskirts of NetCity, as so they wouldn't freak out the locals since they're practically the tallest netnavis in the history of netnavis, and look a bit scary at fircst glance. The two of them tried to introduce them to CyberFood, only, Zero and X didn't seem to have any taste for it. I off-handedly suggested maybe they only ate viruses as a _joke_, and well..." he chuckled with a shake of his head. "Next thing I know I'm pulling a couple all-nighters to make a new program for their Navi Customizers so their netnavis can eat like the others. _Damn you Puppy Dog Eyes..._" he glowered to himself as he faced the other way, though Jane snickered into her hand.

"Oh, Uncle~" a sing-song voice suddenly spoke behind him, causing the shorter-haired blond to pale as he turned his gaze over his shoulder, his niece giving him the biggest Puppy Dog eyes she could muster, which caused Rush to recoil at their overwhelming power. "Now you really don't meant that about Mother's technique, do you~?"

"Uh...N-n-n-n-no..." Tyson stammered out, unable to tear his gaze away from the eyes capable of surpassing the Sharingan in terms of mind-manipulating.

"I thought so," Jane giggled, ending her technique and releasing her uncle.

"You make NaviCust programs too?" Hub asked as he came into the room. "I thought you only customized NetNavis."

"Hey, Hub, how did you know that? You weren't even in the room," Bolt asked. "Well, technically it was a limo, but seriously. How'd you know that?" he asked looking at the elder brunette curiously.

"Oh! Uh...er...I...Uh..." Hub suddenly screamed as he pointed out the window, "UFO!"

"UFO?!" Bolt gasped before zipping over to the nearest window, put the upper half of his body out of it, and shook his fist at the clouds. "You darn Skrulls! You keep away from this planet, ya got me?!"he shouted angrily, garnering varied reactions all around. Lan was simply confused, Maylu found something about his crazed rantings funny, Hub was relieved his cover hadn't been blown, Chisao scoffed at how immature the blond was acting even though _he _fell for a similar trick once, and Jane simply yanked him away from the window before he fell.

"...Yes...well, CustomNavis and NaviCust programs go hand-in-hand," the blond said off-handedly as he put his weight up on his cane, Jane helping him up after dealing with her brother and receiving a thankful nod in return from the elder blond. "Since making battlechips and setting up viruschips really aren't that different, I guess you could say I'm a jack-of-all-trades for anything not factory standard."

"Yeah, I couldn't help but notice you have a few battlechips here I don't recognize," Maylu said looking at the opened chip folder left on the table.

"StickyBoomer?" Dex said looking over a battlechip that looked like a MiniBoomer, it was colored white with a gray stripe running down the middle and had a slightly rougher texture than a MiniBoomer. "You make CustomChips too?"

"You don't want to know what _that_ one does," Bolt informed as he walked over, a small shudder going up his spine.

"I'm surprise you recognize the subtle differences between BattleChips and CustomChips," the blond replied to the heavy-set teen, ignoring his nephew's comment. "Most people who see them think they're rare or just misprints."

"Well, yeah. I made my MegaGutsPunch after I got _him_," he said bringing out the battlechip that had GutsMan on it. "What cool NetBattler doesn't have a signature attack?"

"May I?" Tyson asked holding out his hand, Dex placing it on the man's palm as he looked it over. "Hmmm... I see, I see. Excellent design. You've made it so GutsMan and _only _GutsMan could use this."

"I've also got my GutsHammer," Dex said pulling out another CustomChip.

"There'll be plenty of time to talk about customized chips and programs later. We need to get back to the _real _reason we're here," Lan said separating the two before he walked up to his dad. "Dad, we just heard about how there's a new PET and a tournament just for them coming up. Can we see? Pleeease?" he practically begged.

"Of course. The first shipment just came in for SciLab the other day, and now we're just waiting for BlazeQuest games to finish distribution before they're release to the public. Come on, right this way," he said guiding the group out of the lab and into the next room, Yai in the back grumbling about it "always being about BlazeQuest".

* * *

Speak of the devil and he shall be narrated about. At the moment we turn our gaze to one Chaud Blaze, active president of BlazeQuest Games, one Eugene Chaud Blaze was sitting in his office, juggling both the company and his duty as a NetSavior. With the recent contract for distribution from SciLab set up to take effect in a week with hundreds of next-generation PETs on back-order, along with the recent threat against an enigma he still knew nothing about, he was stretching himself out pretty thin. He hadn't gotten a real night's sleep in days, and was running on nothing but caffeine and adrenaline. Not the healthiest combination out there.

"Mr. Blaze, your appointment with Commissioner Kifune and Ms. Manabe will be in a few minutes," the secretary's voice suddenly called over the intercom. With frayed nerves the dual-toned teen almost spilled his coffee, if the twitching was anything to go by.

"S-Send them in now," Chaud ordered.

"Of course, sir," the secretary returned. A few moments the door to his office opened, the Commissioner of the Net Police, Seishin Kifune, and his personal assistant Rei Manabe, entered the office. Color them surprised at the state they found Chaud in, strands of hair sticking out in all directions from the eggshell-like style, bags under his eyes which were red with blood vessels.

"Dear lord, Chaud, what happened to you?" Seishin questioned at the sight of him. "When was the last time you'd gotten any sleep, or... bathed?"

"*_Sniff Sniff* _Not recently from my guess," Rei stated, taking a sniff of the air and finding the scent of coffee and sweat.

"No time... Too many unanswered questions... Too much to do... Not enough time," Chaud rasped on frayed nerves, typing away on several holographic keyboards, hands shaking and eyes closing, only for him to snap them open after a few seconds.

"Chaud, if this is about everything that's going with this SubSpace army," Seishin stated, remembering the reports of their insignia being carved or painted wherever they went. "You need to realize that there are other people working towards their capture as well."

"Oh yeah? And when was the last time a couple of kids _didn't _have to do all the heavy lifting, huh? HUH?!" Chaud suddenly snapped. "Every single time adults are too incompetent or just too _stupid, _and we _kids _have to be the ones that pick up the slack!"

"Now Chaud, you know that isn't true. Raika's far from a child," the man argued.

"Yeah, but how many of the NetSaviors are official law enforcement or recognized military? Last I checked the majority of them were either civilians, children, or _both_," he said before suddenly falling asleep, forehead falling with a low -_**whump-**_, the teen snoring for a few seconds before the coffee maker went off with a -_**DING-**_. "Coffee's done!" he suddenly blurted out, dashing over to the coffee machine and pouringhimself a fresh cup with shaking hands, Rei's own taking hold of them and stopping him from spilling coffee onto the floor.

"Chaud, not everyone is an expert NetBattler, or were chosen to receive the Mark of-" -_**SNOOORE-**_ " . . . Duo..." Rei facefaulted, as Chaud had suddenly fallen asleep on his feet like a horse.

"_Perhaps we shouldn't wake him,"_ Seishin suggested.

"_What he _needs _is to go home, get a good night's sleep, maybe take a few days off."_

"TAKE TIME OFF?!" Chaud suddenly cried out.

"Oh, you were awake for that..." Rei sighed.

"I can't take time off! There's too much to do! So many questions unanswered! Not enough intel on SubSpace-"

"Which can easily be answered by the other departments, you don't have to do everything by yourself," she assured him.

"She's right, Chaud. Let the others bear some of this burden. Take some time off, get some sleep and... bathe," he listed off, Chaud discretely sniffing his pits and fighting the urge not to retch. "As ProtoMan probably told you, the Synchro Cup is coming up, so maybe after you get some rest you should enter. You know, to help take the edge off."

"Hmph," Chaud huffed as he combed down his unruly hair with his fingers. "I already have the highest Synchro Ratings out of anyone, and I don't need a trophy to prove that," he said self-assuredly, though that was ruined when he let out a long cat-like yawn.

"At least consider it," Rei pleaded. "You've been the most at peace when training or NetBattling. As long as you take some time off before you burn yourself out. If SubSpace decides to attack and you can't even stand up straight, you won't be any good to anyone."

" . . . Ayame," Chaud said pressing the intercom button on his desk. "Push back all my appointments and call in the committee. It's time they earn their pay," he ordered in a no-nonsense tone.

"Yes, sir," the woman on the other end of the line said, almost sounding relieved, though in hid dishelmed state Chaud couldn't pick it up.

"ProtoMan, call the car around. _*yawn* _I'm going to bed, and I don't know when I'll get up," he yawned.

"Of course, sir," ProtoMan replied from his Link PET. "Also, it appears you have a call from Ms. Anetta. Should I patch her through?"

"Go ahead," Chaud sighed as he left his office and descended to the ground floor in the elevator, ProtoMan's image on the screen being replaced by Anetta's.

"Hey Chaud, I've been trying to reach you all week and... good golly, what happened to your face?!"

" . . . Is it really that noticeable?" he asked.

"Like a wrecked train. Have you been pulling all-nighters again?"

"If you don't have anything important to say, I'm hanging up."

"Wait!" the red-head blurted out. "Lan just told me about this netbattle tournament coming up. I was wondering if maybe the two of us could enter together?"

"I'm already the best netbattler with the highest Synchro Ratings. There's no point in me entering," Chaud huffed dismissively, hanging up before Anetta could even respond. "*_YAAAAAAWN* _ProtoMan. What day is it."

"Sunday."

"Oh, that isn't so-"

"Of next week."

" . . . I have _got _to stop drinking so much coffee," the dual-toned teen said as he rubbed his eyes. It was pretty bad if he couldn't tell what day it was.

* * *

"And here we have it, the next-generation PET," Dr. Hikari announced as they entered a conference room, some of the staff unloading new-looking PET from boxes stacked in the center of the room, the long ellipse-shaped table equipped with a number of data transfer equipment to move NetNavis from the older PET the newer ones. "I'd set some of the new PET aside for Lan and his friends earlier, but I'm sure I can pull a few out for you three," he said addressing Tyson, Bolt, and Jane.

"You don't have to go that far for me," Tyson said waving himself off. "I'm sure I can get by with this older model before upgrading," he said drawing out his sign-shaped PET, the staff spotting it before they got into a panic, grabbing the blond's arms before hauling him towards the unopened boxes and transfer software.

"It seems that our uncle's choice in life has been cut rather short," Jane noted.

"Oh, yeah," Bolt nodded, "It's like when Aunt Misora, Aunt Meiru, and Okaa-chan drag you off for shopping and having me, Pops, and Uncle Subaru get dragged along to carry the stuff you girls buy."

The bluenette's response to that was simple. She slammed her elbow into his gut before giving him a chop to the neck, slamming him into the ground. Everyone took a few steps back from the annoyed teen.

"Okay then, MegaMan, let's take a look at your new home," Lan said looking down into his PET, Rush having taken Hub back into the cyberworld when the brunette had stepped out to go to the bathroom. No need to spring too much on them all at once.

"I can tell it's taken some cues off the Link PET, but with a few additions," MegaMan noted as he appeared on Lan's shoulder, the boy tearing into one of the boxes and coming across what would come to be his new home. It was roughly the same _size _as the Link PET but more rectangular in shape, and while it flipped open similar to the Advanced PET, it had two screens instead of one, retaining the stylus from the previous model but collapsable. "Lan, there's something else in the box. Pull it out," he reminded Lan before he threw it out, the brunette pulling some kind of bulky bracelet.

"What's this for?" Lan asked holding the bulky bracelet up.

"That would be the mount for the Personal Terminal Exceed, or PET EX for short," Mr. Famous said holding his left forearm out, the double-screened PET worn on his forearm like a large watch.

"Wow, cool! Now I won't have to worry about dropping this thing," Lan said thinking back to all the times he'd dropped his previous PETs. Synching the bulky blue bracelet around his forearm, clicking the clasps so it was comfortable but didn't jiggle too much, he slid the PET EX into place on top of it before locking it in place. "Pretty cool, huh, MegaMan?"

"Yes, except you need to transfer me into it first," MegaMan reminded Lan from the Link PET presently set onto his NetOp's bicep, the brunette looking up to see that those upgrading to the new PETs had the EX models on their charging stations, while they had cabels hooked up to their old-model PETs to transfer out the files. This caused Lan to scratch the back of his neck nervously.

"Hey Mr. Famous, how come the PET EX doesn't look anything like the PET Watch?" Naruto asked holding his up.

"Our original intent was to compress the functions of a next-generation PET into a smaller package. However, when development of the real-time Synchro Gauge suddenly advanced, we pushed it's implementation forward into _this _model, hence the size," Mr. Famous explained. _"On top of that, we've been able to reproduce Rush's ability to travel between the real world and cyber world in small scale, so those of you with... special needs, will no longer have to rely on him or the Cyber World Gate to do so."_

"_But wasn't that how that ShadeMan guy got into the real world?"_ Naruto asked dubiously.

"_We've thought of that, and have been able to manipulate it so that only those with pre-established flesh-and-blood bodies will be able to change from NetNavis to NetHumans,"_ Mr. Famous returned. _"Of course, it'll be a while before we can give _all _NetNavis the capacity to become NetHumans. This concept is still in the development stage. Come to think of it, had you not shown up and proved materialization outside of a dimensional area with a flesh-and-blood body was possible, we'd need an estimated ten to twenty years before it could work."_

"_Well uh... Glad I could help...?"_ the blond returned nervously, beginning to feel like a science lab frog about to have its stomach sliced open with a scalple.

"Here, let me get all your files and features sorted out," Mr. Famous offered as he guided Naruto to one of the transfer consoles. At the same time, some of the lab techs were able to dig up an old jack-in cable adaptor for the transfer module, and were in the process of transferring all of Tyson's old files, and his NetNavi. Given how the transfer wasn't wireless like with the others, the transfer process was a tad more... tedious.

"Well Basic, you ready?" Tyson asked, all of his files transferred, his NetNavi being the last thing to go.

"I believe the saying, see you on the other side, would be appropriate."

"Yeah... Good luck old friend," Tyson said as Basic disappeared from his PET, the blond's eyes turning to the PET EX's open screen and waiting for his NetNavi to reappear. For a few minutes he thought his NetNavi had gone his way of the elderly migrating penguin and was simply too old to make it _–or at least by a program's standards-_, but after he was about to give up, the top screen surged to life, and Basic re-appeared. "_Phew_. Looks like you just made it."

"That I did," Basic replied as he looked around. "It is certainly quite _roomy _in here," the navi stated before he pressed a hand to the screen, suddenly flying out in hologram form, much to his surprise.

"Guess now you know how the hologram feature works," Tyson chuckled, whereas the other scientists were wondering just how Tyson and Basic had managed to survive in the modern world with such an outdated modem.

"Oh man, check out all these features," Naruto said as he flipped through the manual of the special-order PET EX Dr. Hikari had gotten just for him; it was colored orange for his benefit, along with the "NetHole Generator" as Mr. Famous called it. "ChipFldr for instant bring-up and use via touchscreen, real-time synchro gauge to enhance NetNavi/NetOp interactivity, increased distance on the hologram projector with partial-hardlight system. Man this thing is so _cool_!" And he wasn't saying that just because it was in orange. "Look out, Synchro Cup! Naruto Uzumaki is on the scene!" he said with a clenched fist and fire blazing in his eyes.

"But Naruto, how are you going to enter if you don't have a NetNavi?" Lan pointed out, the blond's train of thought completely derailing at that important as the startling realization hit him. The PET Watch he'd been using, he did so via touchscreen and stylus. He never actually got around to _getting _a NetNavi since he could always _become _one. _Wait a minute, I can just use a Shadow Clone and leave a "NetOp" behind, _the blond thought to himself with a smirk, only to realize how quickly that plan would fail. One wayward nudge or elbow and he'd be without a "NetOp". Plus if he did, then he may end up blowing his cover. This thought of course caused the blond to slump over in the corner, a gloom cloud hanging over his head as he drew circles on the floor with his finger.

"There there Naruto, it's okay," Maylu said consoling him as the blond deflated. "It's still a month until the Synchro Cup. That's enough time to get you a NetNavi to use. Right?"

"Maybe... But I want something special. Not an off-the-shelf BasicNavi I can get anywhere," the blond sighed, before realizing there was one such person in the room. "Ah... no offense."

"None taken," Basic said plainly appearing on Tyson's shoulder, still getting used to the new feature he hadn't taken advantage of before.

"But even then, I just don't have enough money saved up to have a CustomNavi programmed to how I like it on my budget. Commander Fish photos aren't selling like they used to, and I don't really have time for a part-time job," the blond sighed. Reason he didn't use shadow clones was for the same reasons as with the netnavi conundrum. Too much risk of being dispelled, and subsequently discovered.

"N-Naruto," Iris said placing a hand on his shoulder, making him look at her as she began to fidget. "Listen, if you want, you could borrow one of mine. I've got three of them after all," she said pulling them up on the display, the triplet sisters waving with smiles on their faces.

"Iris..." the blond spoke, touched by her gesture. "Thank you, really, but it just wouldn't be the same as having one of my own," he found himself sighing. "I know I'm being a bit selfish, and I shouldn't be too picky right now if I want to enter with the rest of you guys, but... It just... It feels so weird, being the only one here without a NetNavi of his own."

"Tyson, you customize NetNavis, right?" Maylu asked facing the older blond as he finished synching the PET EX to his forearm. "Couldn't you make something for Naruto? Even if he doesn't have enough money on his own, I'm sure if we pitch in we can get him something great."

"Two problems with that plan unfortunately," Tyson answered as he looked over Basic's data with the new interactive touchscreen, finding alot more convenient than the navi's previous home. "One is that my specialty is customizing BasicNavis _into_ CustomNavis, not from scratch. Since Naruto doesn't have a NetNavi in the first place, even if I customized an off-the-shelf model, there wouldn't be any pre-existing battle experience to customize the NetNavi _to_. Second, I'm already on contract for another job, and I don't handle two at once, otherwise one's end result will suffer while the other benefits. I can recommend a site if you want, but just not me."

"Thanks, I guess," Naruto said with a bit of a smile.

"How about this Naruto. You've helped me out of my fair share of jams in the past, so how about I help you?" Yai asked. "Whatever you want, I'll get it for you. How does that sound?"

"Really? You'd do that for me?" Naruto asked genuinely surprised.

"Of course! After all," Yai said as a ray of light shone off her forehead. "Us blondes have to stick together!"

_I won't look a gift horse in the mouth, _Naruto thought to himself with a chuckle, the others getting their NetNavis and files transferred into the PET EXs without any complications.

"Uncle, while we're here..." Jane said nudging the older blond's shoulder, right after she had gotten X in a blue PET EX, her brother placing Zero inside a red one.

"Excuse me, Dr. Hikari," he said getting the man's attention. "There's actually a NaviCust program I need a bit of help testing. Most of the data's been finalized, but if I could have the data analyzed by professionals, it'd make what I have to offer a little more... credible, than what a random programmer can make on his home computer."

"Well, I can understand the need for credibility, and if you just need to run some final tests on a NaviCust program before presenting it as product, I actually think there's something you can use here that's vacant at the moment," Dr. Hikari said after a moment's thought. "It'll also be a good chance to see how well you programmed X when compared to Zero. Naruto, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you wait for a bit before putting your CustomNavi on back-order?"

"I guess..." the blond replied, though patience wasn't really his strong suit. He could hold back from leaping into something head-first, but he still couldn't stand not moving for too long. _No wonder Sonic's practically pulling the quills out of his head._

* * *

"Whoa. What is that thing?" Lan asked as the group was guided into another lab. It looked like most of the others, only the device in the center was marginally new to everyone there. The device appeared to be cube-shaped and divided into two halves, a portion of the hardware visible through the fissure. There were a number of vents releasing heat mounted on the upper half, a few consoles set onto the bottom half for analyzing data. Set into the top was a large sphere made of hexagons similar to a dimensional area, curved pieces holding it in place.

"That would be our BattleChip Stadium program," Dr. Hikari said booting it up, a few of the scientists on break rushing up to help. "With it, we can create near-perfect copies of NetNavis, capable of fighting in the same way their originals do. As a failsafe, the copies can't exist outside BC Stadium, otherwise we'd have rogue copies running around."

"Why's it called _BattleChip _Stadium?" Dex asked. "This thing doesn't look like a battlechip at _all_."

"Not everything that's named something has to look like its name," Jane frowned, slapping Dex on the back of the head. For some strange reason he didn't seem to mind though.

"She's right, program is capable of generating nearly every kind of battlechip there is for active use, and because of the AudienceProg that gives the CopyNavis the will to fight to their highest potential, the fighting copies aren't simply automated AI, but will fight to win with the utmost of their ability," Mr. Famous explained.

"Essentially, we can test netnavis to the highest extreme, collecting reliable data without putting the originals in any feasible danger," Dr. Hikari summarized.

"Whoa! Neato! Let's test this bad boy out then!" Lan said as he was about to jack into one of the ports, only for Mr. Famous' hand to get in the way of the beam.

"Hold it, Lan. If you don't jack in through the console first, then the CopyNavi won't be created, and you really _could _get MegaMan deleted."

"Eh heh... Right..." Lan said as he stepped out of the lab to regain his composure, bumping into Hub on the way out. _"Life was a lot simpler back when I only had to carry you around," _he sighed.

"_Actually, your dad and I have been talking about that," _he said leading Lan away from listening ears. Bringing up his PET EX, the brunette could see that it looked slightly updated from the model he had. "Whenever you need me, just press the following beacon in your PET EX," he stated, an icon with MegaMan's NaviMark appearing in an empty corner of Lan's PET's bottom screen. "When you do, I'll get the signal and be there as soon as you can, like _this_," he said pressing the emblem, a light atop Hub's PET EX going off. Taking a few steps back before pointing his arm at the ground, he tapped the top button and fired a laser into the ground at his feet, a NetHole like Rush's appearing, which he soon fell through. "And that's how you do it," his voice suddenly said form inside Lan's PET as MegaMan climbed out a hole that appeared.

"Whoa, that's so cool!" Lan awed.

"A similar features has been built into the other NetHuman's PETs for this purpose. The low-maintenance power source for was actually inspired after studying Naruto's chakra."

"His chakra? How does it work? The power source I mean."

"Well, um... It'd take five to ten hours to accurately explain it," MegaMan said scratching his cheek, Lan faltering at how long it'd take to explain. And even then everything would end up having to be dumbed-down for him. "We'll talk about it later. For now, let's take a look at how BattleChip Stadium works," he suggested, Lan nodding as he headed back into the lab.

"Zero/X/Basic! Jack-in! Power up!" Bolt, Jane, and Tyson all called out with their PET EXs held in front of themselves, arms pointing upwards in an upsidedown **V** with middle and index fingers resting on the top plate. Spinning their wrists around under their right arms while keeping their fingers under the buttons, the three lowered their hands at the wrists and pressed the button, infared beams firing into the jack-in points, like using a wrist-mounted laser. **(This would be the "animation" for the new jack-in sequence, if this were animated. If I didn't illustrate it well enough, it's like if you put a watch on your left wrist, put your fingers on it with the watch face pointing forward and your hand up, before moving it around to face in front of you.)**

"Copying: Zero. Copying: X. Copying: Basic," the BattleChip Stadium AI called out. As scanning cursors ran over the three inside the computer. "Now creating CopyNavis. Set CopyNavis to Automatic, or Manual?" the machine asked, the three's PET EXs opening as a holographic window came up, the prompts **AUTOMATIC **and **MANUAL **appearing in front of them.

"Manual control," the three said tapping the right button.

"Now establishing line of control. Executing program," the AI said as the three's CopyNavis appeared in a large arena-like stadium, masses of randomly-generated NetNavis in the audience cheering the three on, Zero and X facing across from Basic. With numerous flickers of light, dozens of battlechips of all types began to float around the arena, all contained within glowing spheres.

* * *

"Alright you three, you know the plan. CopyBasic," Tyson said addressing the copy, who looked up at the Window that appeared behind his shoulder. "While the three of them get the battlechips they need for the test, I'm going to install a copy of the NaviCust program we're testing into you, so sit tight," he ordered, though in a tone like he'd use with the genuine article, and not just a copy. The CopyNavi in question simply nodded his head and rooted his feet into the ground, CopyZero and CopyX bounding around the field, their larger-than-average frames deceptively agile and nimble, plucking the floating battlechips out of mid-air.

"Uncle, I have the chips required for a Program Advanced," Jane suddenly announced.

"As do I," Bolt returned.

"Alright you three. Once you're ready, hit CopyBasic with everything you've got," Tyson replied, the others gaping at what he was asking of them. Sure, it was only a copy and the original wouldn't be affected, but for him to subject _anything _like his own navi to that kind of duress.

"FighterSword, KnightSword, HeroSword, triple-download!" Bolt called out as he had CopyZero slot the three chips into himself, his arms replaced with a long red and blue blade before the third came in, the energy blazing up his arms before it formed a massive golden colored rainbow-edged blade above his head, much like the Life Sword. "Program Advance: Ultima Sword!" he called out as CopyZero swung the blade down, a massive golden shockwave tearing across the ground. With arms spread wide CopyBasic took the brunt of the attack head-on, thrown back and sent rolling across the ground before he came to a stop. Surprisingly enough, instead of being logged out, CopyBasic simply got back to his feet, which meant the original could've done so as well.

"Incredible... was able to withstand a Program Advance with greater power than the _Life Sword_," Dr. Hikari gaped at the sight, Basic's readouts indicating his data's structural integrity, or "Hit Points", had held up to an impressive 45% remaining after-attack.

"Tyson, what's the point of all this?" Lan asked, not comfortable with watching a netnavi, copy or not, being used as target practice for some purpose he did not yet understand.

"M-Cannon, triple-download!" Jane called out as she had CopyX slot in the three battlechips, right arm forming into a massive tri-barreled cannon, whereas most Navis had to use _both _arms for this kind of PA. "Program Advance: Titan Cannon!" she called out as CopyX fired a trio of high-powered blasts straight at CopyBasic. Mid-flight the three beams became one and struck CopyBasic, a cloud of dust rising into the air, and the AudienceProg cheering loudly. Lan was about to protest the abuse of the being just deleted, whether it was a copy or not, only for everyone to fall silent at the sight that CopyBasic was still there.

"I don't understand..." one of the techs blurted out as he went over the results. "That last attack was as powerful as the Ultima Sword program advance... How could CopyBasic survive something like that? I mean, he's down to 1% HP, but that attack should've easily deleted his copy."

"It was? Yes! YES YES YES YES! It worked! Holy crap do you know what this means?!" he asked as he took the nearest person to him, Lan, and shook him by the shoulders. "It means the UnderShirt CustProg '_works_'! It really, REALLY WORKS!" he said exuberantly.

* * *

"So then you're saying your NaviCust Program is meant to protect NetNavis from Program Advance? Seems a bit limited in scope to me," Dr. Hikari said with crossed arms.

"It isn't just Program Advance, I only set this test up this way to prove it could work against the uppermost extreme of what any NetNavi would encounter. The UnderShirt gives NetNavis a buffer for _everything_, in order to make one last stand. That way they can get one last hit in or retreat before they're deleted," Tyson explained giddily.

"So it's like a life insurance policy," Mr. Famous surmised as he analyzed the data. "That Titan Cannon should've easily caused another 55% HP of damage to Basic. I suppose the fact that it only caused 44% proves this program works," he said as he repeated the test in the simulator, but at a faster speed, showing that the UnderShirt custprog worked the same way nearly every time with a 99.99% reliability.

"This program has the potential to save _thousands, _no, _millions _of NetNavis from deletion each year if it can keep them at 1% no matter what happens to them," a lab tech said happily.

"Actually... One more hit after the UnderShirt acts as a buffer, no matter _how _small, and the NetNavi would be logged out or deleted," the blond cut in. "Now, if you were to use a Recovery battlechip of any type, it would be able to work again, but without additional stability, a NetNavi wouldn't stand another hit, even _with _the UnderShirt."

"How did you come up with such an idea?" Dr. Hikari asked, curious as to where the inspiration for such a revolutionary customization program came from.

"Well..." Tyson said with a wistful sigh as he looked off into the distance.

"Oh boy, here he goes again," Bolt sighed, while Jane got ready to listen to her uncle's story.

"So there we were, my friends and I celebrating my 17th birthday on the beach, tiki torches and grass skirts all around," he began to reminisce. "We were doing the limbo, when suddenly one of the torches fell over and landed on my chest right as I got out from under the stick. Suffice it to say my shirt, on account of how I was self-conscious of my body back then, burst into flame, and it took a couple minutes to put me out. Once it was all over, the only thing that had separated my skin from being burned was the undershirt I happened to be wearing because it was a tad chilly, and thus the UnderShirt custprog was born."

"So you got lit on _fire_... and that's how you came up with this program?" Lan asked questionably as he looked it over on the computer. Providing a protective barrier over the final percent of a NetNavi's structural integrity to prevent an instantaneous deletion, even if only for a moment. _This thing could save a lot of NetNavis, _the brunette thought.

"I know. Hilarious, right?" Bolt snickered, only for Jane to slap him across the face while stifling her _own _giggle.

"Dr. Hikari!" one of the lab techs suddenly cried out. "The audience program within BattleChip Stadium... it's become infected!" he cried out, the doctor running over to the screen and looking it over, eyes suddenly widening at what had appeared on the display.

"No... No, this isn't a simple bug! I'm reading full range of sentient thought and capability of movement. This thing... it's a mobile battle bug... BugRiser!" he suddenly blurted out, the bug that had somehow evolved within the computer humanoid in shape, its texture similar to that of the Grave Virus Beast. It stood several netstories tall, right arm a massive sword many meters in length, white bands around its wrists and feet, which had four toes similar to LaserMan. Over its chest and shoulders its body was shaped as though it were wearing armor, a high collar around its neck, and a horned helmet like people's misconception about Vikings on its head, a cross-shaped visor serving as its eyes.

"I'm... guessing that isn't part of the program, huh?" Bolt asked worriedly. _**-BZZT! BZZT! BZZT! BZZT!-**_ A moment later the console containing BattleChip Stadium suddenly sparking with massive arcs of electricity, the room shaking and everyone thrown off their feet save a few.

"The system is running out of control. If BugRiser escapes into the Net, it'll be a disaster," Mr. Famous stated.

" . . . What are the chances of the original Zero and X becoming bugged?" Jane asked as the CopyNavis fought against BugRiser with everything they had, only for their bodies to become bugged and deteriorate.

"Since Zero was originally the Zero Virus the possibility of him being affected by BugRiser does not exist," Dr. Hikari said running the data against itself, while leaning away from the lancing arcs of electricity that occasionally jumped over the device. "X also has similar properties, but if the original Basic goes in, being a first-generation off-the-shelf BasicNavi, he will most likely become infected within the first five minutes."

" . . . I see..." Jane returned, going through her PET before finding something within her transferred files. "Uncle, I'm transferring a CustProg to your PET. Prepare to receive."

"Got it," Tyson responded, a progress bar appearing on the holo-screen before it read out as **Received**. Opening it up, he saw that it was- "A NaviCust program?"

"Yeah. And not just _any _NaviCust program either," Jane said with a smirk.

"BugStop will make Basic completely immune to BugRiser," Bolt returned.

"BugStop...? Are you saying-"

"There's no time to explain, but yeah, it stops bugs," Jane cut in before Lan could finish. "Come on guys! Let's crush this thing like a bug under a shoe!"

"Got it!" Bolt and Tyson returned. "Zero/X/Basic! Jack-in! Power Up!" the three shouted as they sent their NetNavis into the BattleChip Stadium, though most of the titular element had already been consumed by BugRiser.

* * *

"Show that thing what you're made of!" Jane, Bolt, and Tyson instructed their NetNavis from their own Windows.

"Z Saber!" Zero roared as his right arm extended into its sword configuration. "Sonic Boom!" he shouted as he swung the sword with tremendous power, a slicing air wave tearing through it before slamming into BugRiser, knocking him over into the stands.

"X Buster!" X called out as his right arm assumed a shape similar to MegaMan's Mega Buster, only with more white accents and was larger, a low -_**WHRRRRRRRR-**_ing sound emanating from its core before he shouted, "Charge Shot!" With a loud -_**CHWOON!-**_, a massive blue energy blast with spiraling blue trails sailed out of the end of the Buster and right into BugRiser's chest.

"BN Buster!" Basic called out as he brought his Buster program to bear against BugRiser. To everyone's surprise, the fire rate was greater than even the Hyper Burst PA, BugRiser's hide riddled with dozens of regular-powered shots for second.

"Geez, this guy's still standing!" Bolt cursed as the dust cleared from their three attacks, BugRiser no worse off than before.

"Not for long. Bolt, Tyson, AreaSteal, on my Mark!" Jane ordered as she drew nine chips from between her breasts, much to the embarrassment of all watching.

"Synch!" the two said almost immediately with no delay.

"Mark!" Jane shouted as she slotted in the nine TimeBomb battlechips at the same moment Zero and Basic used AreaSteal, three Giga Time Bombs dropping into BugRiser's lap as a result of the Triple Program Advance, which was shocking since most NetNavis could only process _one _PA at a time, let alone _three_. Firing a charged shot into the ground, X used the recoil to carry himself away as the explosions went off, half of BattleChip Stadium consumed in a large mushroom-shaped blast. When the smoke cleared, despite the fact that half of BattleChip Stadium was now a smoking crater, an uninjured BugRiser once again rose up.

"Guys, let the rest of us help you out!" Lan shouted over their shoulders.

"Jane, give the rest of us BugStops too!" Maylu cried out.

"I'm sorry, I only had the one, and I made it special, just for Uncle," Jane replied, the blond affectionately ruffling her hair before his eyes turned back to the fight.

"Alright, Basic. Time to change our tactics! Sending you Style Change data now!" he said pulling up the file with his touch screen, Lan struck speechless at the sight that the emblem was the same as when _he _used Style Change. In the telltale twin rings that surrounded him, Basic was immersed in a tremendous light, BugRiser's gaze soon falling upon him.

"**Bug Rise Sword!"** the mobile battle bug called out as he broke away from Zero and X, the end of his massive blade coming down towards him mid-transformation. Right as the blade was about to connect however, a silver streak suddenly tore through blade like a drill, Basic landing in the stands, his configuration modified by Style Change.

"Style Change: Break Style," Basic called out, his right arm replaced with a pink white-cored lance, a snaking ray of blue energy coiling around it in the shape of a drill. His forest green bodysuit was now dark blue with orange streaks running up from his chest down to his feet. There was a gunmetal gray belt synched around his sides with hip guards attached, his forearms and shins replaced with silver guards bearing raised drill-like edgings, his gloves and boots colored dark blue as well. His chest and shoulder armor was connected but with flexible joints, colored gunmetal gray with silver accents, a raised collar guarding his neck. His helmet was shaped like a knight's covering his entire form, a vertically-running faceplate with an orange **V **shaped visor and single horn on the forehead connected to the NaviMarks on the sides of his head.

_So MegaMan really _isn't _the only one who can use Style Change... _Lan thought with some small level of disappointment, before remembering that there was only _one _MegaMan, and even if all his other programs were copied _–which Double Soul kind of was already-_, MegaMan was still the one and only.

"Break Sabre!" Basic SC called out as he launched himself at BugRiser, sword poised to strike at his corr only for his opponent to retaliate with a cry of- **"Bug Rise Thunder!" **-, his extended hand shooting a massive column of black lightning that struck Basic SC mid-flight and held him in air as the attack continued to electrocute him.

"Oh no you don't! Sanctuary! Battlechip in, download!" Jane called out as the arena's floor suddenly became Holy Panels. The next moment she drew out a red-colored chip, which drew everyone's eye. "HolyDream! Battlechip in, download!" she called out as X raised his buster and began preparing a charge shot, this time a white and blue sphere forming in front of his X Buster. The next moment the Holy Panels across the floor began to rise off the ground before transforming into balls of balls of light that were quickly absorbed into the attack, creating a pure white sphere four times as large as X himself.

"Holy... BEAAAAM!" he called out as the massive attack was launched, catching BugRiser in the side and sending him flying, X shooting forward in a blue blur and catching Basic on the way down as BugRiser took out yet another portion of the stands. "Basic, are you alright?" X asked as he set the navi down, armor blackened with soot and scorched.

"I am fine," Basic said before facing the Window over his shoulder. "Tyson! While Zero and X hold off BugRiser, activate this form's exclusive Program Advance."

"You've got it!" Tyson said as he flipped through his folder, drawing out three battlechips, one bearing a Drixol, the next bearing a Drixor, with the final bearing a Drixia.

"X! Zero! Keep BugRiser pinned, I'm only going to get one shot!" Basic SC called out as his Sabre continued to spin, the two nodding as they rushed at BugRiser just as he'd gotten to his feet, X firing a Charge Shot into his face and disorienting him, Zero slashing at his foot causing him to fall to one knee as he fell to the ground. As Zero and X disengaged however, the damage inflicted upon him by the HolyDream battlechip began to heal, as did the crack across his visor and the slash to his knee.

"Geez, why don't you just stay down already?" Bolt growled in frustration before drawing a red-plated battlechip like his sister had before. "OmegaRocket! Battlechip in, download!" he called out as Zero leapt back. The next moment a shadowed, one-eyed colossus with floating arms with spiked hands appeared. The next moment its core opened wide, a massive gray rocket with white fins, armor, and red accents flew at BugRiser, the massive projectile sailing towards BugRiser right as he rose to his feet and catching him in the chest, detonating on impact and destroying everything behind it. Or so they thought since BugRiser remained, but the portion of BattleChip Stadium caught within the blast had been vaporized.

"Tyson! What're you doing!? If you're going to do something, do it-" Lan yelled at the blond who had been breathing in and out with closed eyes for the past ten minutes, the brunette about to shake his shoulder only for Jane's finger to go to his lips, a blush rising on his features which, caused a pit of ire to form in Maylu's stomach.

"Let him concentrate. This isn't like the other Program Advance you and MegaMan aren't used to," she scolded in a no-nonsense tone. "If Tyson and Basic aren't perfectly synchronized, the use of this PA could tear the two of them apart," she summarized, though the look on her face made it seem like she was trying to _remember _something.

"Perfectly Synchronized. You mean...?" Dr. Hikari asked in shock as the two's eyes opened. The next moment an invisible wind caused the NetOp's hair and clothes to flutter, both of their bodies glowing softly like lightbulbs, the NetOp and NetNavi taking a single step forward at the same time, Basic raising his Break Sabre into the air while Tyson held the three battlechips in hand.

"DrillArm 1, DrillArm 2, DrillArm 3, battlechips in, download!" the blond called out as he slotted the three chips in.

"Program Advance!" Basic SC roared out as his Break Sabre suddenly extended ten times in length, suddenly expanding in size forming a massive silver drill many times his size above his head. "GIGA... DRILL... BREAK!-!-!" he roared as the massive drill spun and he poised it at BugRiser, a massive silver and white flame covering his form from the base of the drill as he shot towards his intended target. A moment later the attack caught it in the stomach, carrying BugRiser into the skybefore punching a hole cleanthrough him, Basic SC jacking out right as Zero and X did, BugRiser's remains falling to the ground before they too detonated, completely destroying what remained of BattleChip Stadium. At the same time in the real world, Tyson's skin began to burn as though exposed to flame, but Jane and Bolt quickly hosed him down with the fire extinguisher, covering him in the fire-suppressing foam.

* * *

"Uncle! Uncle are you okay?" Jane and Bolt said worriedly as they scooped the foam off his form, his skin a bit red but otherwise alright. While FullSynchro granted NetNavis and their NetOps near-instantaneous command-reaction time, the major drawback was that any damage received to the NetNavi was inflicted upon the NetOp as well, or at least in a reduced form since, when a navi gets damaged, the Synchronization between NetNavi and NetOp falls, thus creating a "buffer" between them.

"Yeah... Thanks you two... You really helped me out back there," he said with a smile, only for Jane to suddenly roundhouse kick him in the face and send him rolling across the floor, a flaring shoe-mark across his face, everyone cringing at the sight. Jane was on top of him in seconds, fisting the front of his shirt with one hand while the other was raised up to slap him.

"Do you know what could've happened to you using Full Synchro like that? You could've roasted yourself alive! Why didn't you break off from Full Synchro once the Program Advance started?!" she cried angrily with tears stinging the corners of her eyes, holding herself back from slapping him so she could get that question answered.

"Because if I didn't..." Tyson said with clenched teeth. "Basic would've been ripped to pieces..." he said motioning to the PET EX, Basic inside, though his body was damaged. Nothing a few Recovery battlechips couldn't fix though since there was no damage to his CoreData.

" . . . I-Idiot! Don't scare us like that, alright?" the bluenette sniffed as she pulled the blond into a bone-crushing hug, his face contorting into a pained grimace as she squeezed the slightly-burnt skin, while Bolt simply sighed and scratched the back of his head.

"Sis...Your boobs are suffocating him like Aunt Litchi's do to me when we visit her," Bolt pointed out, Jane's assets currently cutting off Tyson's oxygen. "Still, what a way to go, huh? In pain, yet also in pleasure from suffocation by breasts."

Jane's eyes narrowed before they widened. She quickly released her hold on the blond, letting Tyson gulp in as much air as he could. Jane then proceeded to glare at Bolt while making the motion of a meat bun and her eating it. Bolt paled significantly as he dashed behind Lan, trembling in fear at the unspoken threat, though to the others it simply looked like Jane eating an invisible sandwich while and glaring at her brother.

"Whatever that Program Advance was, it seems to have completely destroyed BugRiser," Mr. Famous stated after analyzing the data for BattleChip Stadium.

"We'll need to re-vamp the Audience Program to prevent something like this from happening again, and isolating BC Stadium's cyberworld might be in order," one tech spoke.

"But still..." Mr. Famous mused. "There should still be some BugFrags left over from BugRiser, yet the system is completely clean."

"Why do you think that is?" Dr. Hikari asked, only for the bluenette to suddenly speak up.

"Uncle, check out this data we got out of BugRiser," Jane said holding up her PET's holographic screen to Tyson, leftover data from the enemy they'd just defeated appearing on display.

"Think you could make some CustomChips with these?" Bolt said holding his own data file up. With that Tyson looked the two over, eyes analyzing what data had been leftover from Bugriser's defeat before saying-

"Sure! I'll need to spring for a couple GigaCopyChips, but I think I can squeeze a BugRiseSword and BugDeathThunder battlechip out of these," the man said with a nod.

"Wait a minute, you're taking the leftovers of the thing that nearly killed us, and you're to make _battlechips _out of it?" Lan balked.

"I don't see what the big surprise is. The LongSword was made after analyzing the _Swordy _virus. Don't you know how battlechips are made?" the blond asked incredulously.

"O-Of _course _I do. I'm just... asking for those of us who _don't _happen to know, eh heheh..." he said nudging Dex with his elbow. Suffice it to say, the heavy-set teen had alot of face to save after Chisao found out all the stuff he'd been saying about himself was a lie. He was flattered Dex would actually go that far to impress him, but you don't have to be a top-notch netbattler to impress your family.

"_*Sigh* _Alright, for those of you who're interested in making CustomChips, listen up, 'cause I'm only going to explain this once," Tyson sighed as he sat himself down in a chair, bringing out a few battlechips and spreading them out on the table in front of him. "BattleChips, be they custom or not, fall within three Classes; Standard," he said pointing to a Hi-Cannon chip, the casing colored gray. "Mega," he said pointing to a SuperVulcan, the casing colored light green. "And lastly, Giga," he said pointing to a red-plated battlechip, this one bearing the picture of a reddish-colored black hole with a pair of narrowed eyes and fanged smile cackling from the depths. "Despite the difference in class however, there are some Standard chips out there as rare as Mega-class chips."

"But then why are they still Standard?" Naruto asked.

"Because the different Classes do not necessarily connote rarity. Primarily, they are for separating battlechips from one another in terms of the power required to use them. Standard-Class chips are for generic battling purposes, and can be used by any NetNavi, no matter how high or low their parameters. Mega-Class chips on the other hand are marginally more powerful, thus while BasicNavis can use only 1 per fight, CustomNavis can use up to 5 per fight or between recharge periods. GigaChips on the other hand are so overwhelmingly powerful, that while it would most definitely destroy an unmodified BasicNavi, CustomNavis can use only 1."

"But then how come ProtoMan sometimes breaks MegaMan's swords when they NetBattle?" Lan asked.

"I know this one! It's because..." everyone leaned in a bit at Bolt's words. "...You ain't go nothin' on his swordplay!" he replied jovially, various facefaults resulting.

"Bolt, you forget how Uncle Roronoa always says that it's not the number of blades, but the weight of them?" Jane scolded.

"Maybe..." Bolt looked away.

"Not quite, Bolt," Tyson cut the past some of you may have noticed that certain battlechips have activated for your NetNavis sooner than others," he stated, a few of the group looking into their PETs. "That's because the processing power of different NetNavis can easily process _some _battlechips faster than others, as well as drawing more power from them based on the navi's own affinity. For example, water-type NetNavis can use water-type chips faster than those who don't fall under that element, however if you use an opposing class, like an elec-type chip, the deployment will be slowed down since it's an opposing element. Some netnavis don't experience any deployment drops despite what battlechips are being used, though as a consequence may not be able to increase activation speed without training your programs to do so. Zero for example can deploy sword-type battlechips almost as soon as it's downloaded into the PET, though projectile-type chips like Cannons and the like take a little longer. X on the other hand can activate most projectile-type battlechips near-instantly as well, though sword-type chips come at a slower rate."

"So then that's why Chaud and ProtoMan always use sword-type chips? Because they play to their strengths?" Lan asked.

"Correct. Some NetNavis may be designed for specifically one purpose, while separating opposing parameters to do so. NetNavis that work in the mailing industry sacrifice power and dexterity for speed, while NetNavis that defend servers and other important computers sacrifice speed for power and dexterity. If you think of it like an RPG, it'll make perfect sense," the blond returned.

"But what was this you said about viruses being used to make battlechips?" Lan asked.

"If some of you will notice, some of your battlechips have pictures of viruses on them," he stated, Lan and Maylu pulling out their MetGuard and AquaTower battlechips to see pictures of a Mettuar and VolGear staring back at them. "When the net first started out, fire, water, elect, and wood-type data didn't exist. However, as the net evolved, so did the viruses inhabiting it, some developing elemental properties to counteract the anti-virus measures being created, hence the Sword and Cannon type battlechips that nearly everyone uses," he said holding a Sword and Cannon battlechip between his fingers. "Eventually, people got the idea to use leftover data from slain viruses in order to create battlechips with elemental affinities. Some battlechip companies _breed _viruses for the purpose of making certain battlechips, though they usually lack the power of battlechips made from viruses found out in the wilds of the cyber world. A Cannon battlechip made by one company, may not be as powerful as a Cannon battlechip you acquire after putting a CannonDumb virus' data inside a CopyChip after virus busting."

"So then what was this about a _GigaCartride_, and what you were going to do with BugRiser's data?" Jasmine asked.

"All battlechips start out life as either Standard, Mega, or GigaCopyChips; blank templates that can have data placed inside them to give them power. Whether you wager them in NetBattles, buy them online, or receive them in emails, the data can only be used by the receiver if they actually put the data inside a CopyChip," the blond stated. Not everyone knew about the CopyChips, or at least not as in-depth.

"CustomChips of course aren't _only _made from virus data," Jane said walking up beside her uncle, drawing a pair of glasses from her chest before putting them on her face, adjusting them with delicate fingers, though the guys had their eyes on _other _things. "FashionChips which offer only aesthetic changes to NetNavis, can usually be custom-made to tailor a NetNavi's taste, most of which are used for festivities, or interactivity between NetNavi and NetOp. In addition to that, you can create data packages that allow a NetNavi to adapt to different conditions, allowing you to change your navi's parameters on the fly by using the program, or Style Change," she stated, Lan's eyes widening since he'd always thought only _MegaMan _could use Style Change. If this was all true, which is probably was, then Double Soul wasn't as exclusive as he thought, since all you needed was the right program.

"However, since new varieties of virus are born every day, by busting them and collecting the data they leave behind, you can use _that _to create new, more powerful battlechips, or... create battlechips with new properties, like the StickyBoomer," Tyson enunciated with his StickyBoomer battlechip, which probably did what the name implied. "The main constraint in making CustomChips is what CopyChip can handle what power. For example, data from BugRiser wouldn't be able to fit inside a Standard or Mega-class CopyChip, but only a Giga since they can accommodate the most data out there."

"Normally there is a bit of _lag time _between when a high-end battlechip is used, due to the processing power required from NetNavis to activate them. However, by synchronizing yourself with your navi to perform FullSynchro, that constraint can be circumvented," Bolt finished explaining. "Dex over here seems to have a knack for making CustomChips, since he developed a few that play to GutsMan's strength. GutsPunch and GutsHammer _may _be able to be used by other NetNavis, however without GutsMan's raw power, they won't be used to their fullest effect."

"Okay..." Naruto groaned as he rubbed his temples. "My head hurts... but I think I understand what you're saying. Basically if I encountered a virus that threw shuriken, and I collected its data after busting it, then I could make a battlechip that lets me throw shuriken?"

"Right on the money," Tyson said putting his chips away and getting to his feet.

"And now, we go to _Yai's _house!" Lan declared fiercely, getting ready to prepare.

* * *

Getting back into town from SciLab, Lan, Maylu, Dex, and Naruto all disembarked so they could grab a few things from home before going to Yai's house. With the recent revelation of how leftover data from busted viruses could be used to create battlechips out of CopyChips, most everyone had gone home to collect the old data they've been accumulating from busting viruses, as so they could save money on battlechips. Tyson pointed Yai towards a good hardware and software store in DenTech, where she proceeded to buy enough ChipBurners and CopyChips for everyone. She of course ended up buying out the entire store leaving them with no product for the next week or until they could get more in, but hey, that was progress for you.

Naruto, who hadn't been busting viruses except for the sake of fighting, ran off to Higsby's to see if he could get some good battlechips to get himself started. He had a few already, but without a wider array, he wouldn't stand a chance in the upcoming tournament.

"Good morning, Higsby," Naruto said as he entered the shop. Since he already knew where Yai's house was, he needn't wait for the limo to pick him up.

"Ah, Naruto, how are you doing today? Are you going to shop or just browse?" Higsby asked.

"Well, I'm a little light on cash right now, but I'm hoping maybe I could get some in-store credit by trading this in," he said raising the DiceTurretSP up between his fingers.

"What? But this is a rare chip! Why would you want to trade it in?" the man asked. "Not that I'm complaining, but most people tend to _hang on _to their rare battlechips."

"Well, I'm not really patient for this sort of thing, plus... I feel a little bad for blackmailing you when we first met," the blond admitted.

"Well... I suppose it's my fault too, for not being as discrete as I should've been," Higsby admitted. Taking the chip and analyzing it, he saw that it was still in practically perfect shape. "Alright, on top of the trade-in value for the DiceTurretSP, I'll give you ten battlechips from the bargain bin for free. So, go on and have at it," he waved off, feeling rather generous after having his painstakingly-crafted DiceTurretSP back in his hands.

"I've got a bit of money of my own too," the blond admitted as he browsed over the shelves. Since the Commander Fish photos weren't selling that well, Haruka had decided a while back to give him an allowance, given he do a few chores around the house. Flipping through the bargain bin, he selected ten chips that caught his eye before moving over to the shelves, pointing out a few within his price range. Walking over to the glass cases, Higsby unlocked the case before he and Naruto placed the thirteen selected chips out on the counter.

"Alright, let's see what we've got here... For the low low price of _free_, we've got..."

"A Cannon, Hi-Cannon, two AreaSteals, an AirShot, and a handful of Mini-Boomers," Naruto announced as he tapped each one out, already coming up with ways to combine them once he had a NetNavi of his own to use.

"And for the standard fee, one M-Cannon, SilverFist, and Mine," the man finished off, Naruto handing over the money as he slotted his new battlechips into the folder Higsby gave him. "You know Naruto, it seems like only yesterday you'd caught me spying on Ms. Mari and blackmailing me about it, but now here we are having a nice chat about battlechips."

"Yeah. How things change huh?" Naruto said as he looked his stock over. "Hey, the Cannon, Hi-Cannon, and M-Cannon make one of those Program Advance things right?" he said noticing the pattern. Honestly he'd gotten the three so he'd have some easy-to-use projectile weapons. He hadn't really been thinking about making a Program Advance until just then.

"Yes, very astute of you to notice. With the recent Darkloid activity, you might need a little firepower. Of course you'll have to practice if you want to avoid mis-firing. Or blowing your NetNavis arms off," he chuckled nervously, since once before he'd tried getting NumerMan to use a PA, only for his weaker frame to be unable to handle that kind of power.

"Yeah. I guess. Anyway, I'll see you later, I'm finally getting myself a NetNavi of my own," Naruto said heading out, Higsby waving him goodbye. As soon as the blond and his friends had departed, the man's hand went to his DiceTurretSP battlechip before he began polishing it, whispering to it in a dark corner as he fret over the small piece of plastic and software, Shuko coming in and wondering just what was going on with her boss.

* * *

Meeting back up as they made their way to the Ayanokoji house, Yai was sent to guide Bolt, Jane, and Tyson ahead of the others while those remaining in the limo discussed how they should tread around the three. While it was true one of them had Zero, the former procreator of the Zero Virus, as their NetNavi, and had all defeated BugRiser before he could escape into the cyberworld, they were doubtful as to whether or not they should reveal the full scope of what was already going on. There were already misconceptions about the Halberd being the vanguard of an alien invasion, the term _misconception _being used because the denizens of SubSpace were not so much _aliens _as they were creatures from a separate dimension. For the moment they didn't have to walk on eggshells around the three since they hadn't asked any questions too deeply concerning the going ons of the world. Should anything happen however to reveal what's going on behind the scenes, and they may have to come clean.

Naruto agreed they should wait and see what whould happen, but even if it came to that, he still wanted his privacy on the fact that he was from another world, similar to the Smashers. All it took was one loose tongue, and suddenly he's on every tabloid across the country, or on a lab table being sliced open so they can poke and prod at his chakra circulatory system. To ensure nothing was unnecessarily revealed, the blond would send a couple clones out to make sure Pikachu and Pit stay hidden.

"It's not that big," Bolt admitted with a straight face.

"What?!" Yai demanded, turning to him.

"We hate to admit it, but we once dared our Uncle Franky to build a treehouse. You know what we got? A tree _mansion_," Jane explained sheepishly.

"All in under an hour," Bolt chuckled, "We actually made it our summer home, too."

In return, Yai openly gaped at what the two of them had just said.

_That shouldn't be possible! An entire mansion in a tree... under one _hour_?!_

"Man, that thing could be a birdhouse for pteradactyles," Tyson noted as he took the sight in, managing to distract everyone from what Bolt and Jane just said.

"See! I'm not the _only _one who thinks so!" Lan blurted out.

_Close one... _the twins thought with a sigh before they turned their eyes to Tyson. _Thanks uncle, _the two said with a gratuitous smile.

"Yes, we get it, the tree house is big," Dex sighed as he got on the ladder. "Come on, I wanna start practicing for the Synchro Cup," he said making his way up for the ladder, Lan following behind.

"Since Dex and Lan are occupying the ladder, Tyson, would you like to accompany me on the elevator?" Yai offered, being mindful of the blond's injury.

"Thank you, I was afraid I'd have to hazard the ladder with my bum leg," the blond chuckled as he, Yai, Bolt, and Jane got in the four-person elevator located on the side of the treehouse. This just left Naruto, Maylu, Jasmine, Iris, and Megumi on the ground, MegaMan and Roll back in their NetNavi forms.

"Naruto, think you could carry me up to the treehouse?" Maylu asked, Lan's grip on the ladder rungs tightening as he heard that.

"Sure, I guess," Naruto said scratching the back of his neck. "What about you? Anyone else want to go?" he asked, Iris and Megumi stepping forward, electrically-charged glare between them when the two stepped forward, while Jasmine and Rain settled for the elevator. Scooping Maylu into his arms and leaping onto the balcony, Lan couldn't help but scowl at the sight. Sure, he wasn't as physically fit as the blond, or could leap tall buildings in a single bound _–not necessarily a lot of call for that-_, or riddle targets full of ninja knives, but the blond didn't have to rub it in his face like that.

"Who's next?" Naruto asked after setting Maylu down.

"I am!" both Iris and Megumi spoke up, Rain chuckling nervously at the sight while Jasmine simply contented herself to watch what was happening. After MegaMan got together with Roll, Meddy seemed to redouble her efforts to capture Naruto, and while Maylu's growing crush on Naruto left Lan open, by the way he was scowling at Naruto when he carried Maylu up bridal style, it would seem Lan had his attention elsewhere as well.

_Hmmm... What to do, what to do? _the Choinese girl questioned herself as she entered the tree house, Rain and Megumi opening up their own NetHoles like Rush's and returning to their NetOp's PETs.

* * *

All settling themselves in within the large tree house, the group was greeted by a large computer suite with all the latest equipment; a small NetArena for private netbattles, devices to record and analyze the fights for the most data retention, PCs linked to ChipBurners for the creation of battlechips, and a myriad of other things the group couldn't tell what they were without looking in the manual.

"Alright MegaMan, let's get the MegaBooster up and running!" Lan said excitedly with a data disk in hand. "The moment you take to the skies, the competition won't know what's coming!"

"Lan, remember what happened the 'last' time you tried to make me a jetpack? You sent me right into a wall," MegaMan said with a winch.

"Hey, after Tyson gave us that lecture on how viruses are used to make battlechips, I have all _kinds _of ideas to make the MegaBooster work," Lan said as he inserted a DashCondor battlechip into the ChipBurner. "Like this DashCondor. If I combine the thrusters with its natural flying ability, we'll have you up in the air in no time."

"That's what I'm afraid of," MegaMan said nervously. Lan's next suggestion to combine a Burner battlechip to give the MegaBooster an _afterburner _caused him to shudder just as much as _ghosts _did.

"GutsMan, if we're going to wind this, we're going to need as much power as we can squeeze out," Dex said with a wide grin. "I'm upping the power on your MegaGutsPunch! Get ready!" he hollered as he uploaded a new program into the MegaGutsPunch.

"Giga... Guts Punch!" GutsMan roared as his fist doubled in size like with MegaGutsPunch, then tripled in size from there, making it six times as large from before. The program seemed to be successful, however... "Guts?" the overly large netnavi gaped as he began tipping backwards until he hit the ground. Try as he may to get up, the massive fist was simply too large for him to lift. As if things couldn't get worse, the massive fist soon shattered into a hundred pieces, and while GutsMan's arm wasn't taken off, _again_, he still lost his hand, which was a bit of a bummer.

"Dex, GutsMan isn't physically strong enough to handle that large a fist," Chisao stated, the heavy-set kid's shoulders sagging. "Secondly, perhaps we should use one of those Mega-Class CopyChips that Tyson mentioned," he said prying open one of the packages that Yai had been kind enough to purchase on her own dollar. Swapping out the Standard-Class CopyShip out before slotting in the Mega-Class one, the boy tapped a few keys before, right in front of their eyes, the data for the GigaGutsPunch adhered to its new home. While it was still impossible to use practically, they could at least have it as an ace in the hole in case they just needed to smash a stationary target.

"I just insert the CopyChip like this... and viola," Maylu narrated as she slotted the CopyChip into the burner, a whirring sound going off from the device before a brand spanking new TyphoonDance chip appeared. _"Hey Roll, maybe you should see about being a model. You've got a great profile,"_ the girl whispered to her NetNavi.

"Well, thanks, but no thanks. There's only '_one_' guy I want looking at me like that," Roll said with a blush as she looked in Lan and MegaMan's direction, particularly MegaMan's, her NetOp before she got to work.

_Seems like everyone has a plan but me, _Jasmine thought with a sigh. Yai and Tory were already making plans to enter the Synchro Cup together since it was a tag-team affair. Opening up her PET EX, she saw that Meddy was going over her past battle experience, whether on the Net or in CrossFusion. Obviously the latter required a high Synchro Rating in order to perform, but if everyone entering had a high SR, then she'd need something more than what she had in order to do so. Lan and MegaMan were off to the side trying to re-unlock Style Change after it'd been buried inside MegaMan's programming for so long, but since Tyson already _had _customized his NetNavi with it, maybe he could give her some pointers. _Speaking of which... _she said as she eventually found the blond in one of the room's corners, surrounded by a trio of computers which he seemed to be operating simultaneously. "Tyson, what're you doing?"

"Oh, just working on Bolt and Jane's trump cards for the tournament, as well as one of my own," he answered as he tore his eyes away from the screen, as to face her. The leftmost monitor had a simulation of what the finished product, BugRiseSword, would look like, sword length, sharpness, and power measurements dotting the screen as well as how much force would be required to move it. The rightmost monitor had a simulated picture of the finished product for BugRiseThunder, potential energy readings and how much could be drawn out of the provided data before it became too much for the netnavi using it to handle. The screen in the middle didn't have a simulated finished product, clearly made from scratch as the wireframe for what looked like a backpack of sorts was slowly taking shape. "But what of you? Any plans for what you'll do in the tournament."

"To be honest... I'm not even sure I'll get that far in," the Choinese girl said with a sigh. "Meddy might be able to bust viruses left and right, but she isn't a powerhouse like MegaMan, GutsMan, or Zero. She's a medic, and while she can keep a NetNavi together just fine... In the middle of a fight the two of us have always had to rely on others."

"Hmmm... That's a bit of a conundrum..." the blond mused. Pulling out the data from the middle console, he ushered her over to it. "How about we take a look at Meddy's parameters, and we can decide what to do from there?" he offered kindly, a bit of pink forming on Jasmine's cheeks before the two sat together and began to talk. At first it was just what Jasmine wanted Meddy to be able to do, but soon things deviated to the two asking random questions about one another.

"Aw...isn't that so adorable?" Bolt whispered as he and his sister watched the two's interaction.

"You think we'll be getting an _aunt _sometime in the future?" Jane whispered.

"Yosha..." Bolt grinned with a whispered reply.

* * *

After a couple hours of non-stop customizing, most everyone had plans for what they were doing for the tournament. Since there wasn't a lower age limit for the tournament, just the base Synchro Rating required to qualify, Dex decided to team up with his brother Chisao as a brotherly bonding kind of thing. Since Glyde and IceMan had worked together in the past, Yai decided to work with Tory. When the topic of partners had come around, Iris had surprised everyone by asking Naruto to be her partner, and since he saw himself getting a usable NetNavi before the tournament he replied he'd be happy to. Maylu teamed up with Lan and MegaMan shortly after since they'd had prior experience, though the red-haired girl seemed a bit jealous of the brunette NetHuman. Bolt and Jane were still contemplating whether they should team up with one another or someone else, and Tyson still hadn't decided who to partner up with, if at all.

With stomachs growling and it being a few hours past noon, Yai called up her maids to bring up some lunch. Soon, carts full of high-end food most of them wouldn't be able to afford flooded the semi-crowded tree house. When a small girl around Yai's height with burgundy hair in a maid outfit came in, nearly everyone pressed themselves against the nearest wall as though she had some kind of contagious allergen laced into her skin. When Jasmine asked what was up, Maylu replied that whenever Kiryuuin Sakurako, one of the apprentice maids, touched anything, it ended badly. This was only further confirmed when Tyson asked for a cup of sweet tea, the girl accidentally grabbing the coffee pot... and spilling the contents right into his lap.

Normally a person with scalding hot liquid soaking their lap would've been running about like mad, however Tyson's leg brace soon put a stop to that, and for some reason Jane hosed his lap down with the nearby fire extinquisher, Kiryuuin apologizing repeatedly with bowed head, tears in the corner of her eyes. Given the looks the others were giving her, things like this going wrong were a common occurrence. Two such tales involved a vacuum cleaner and washing machine on separate occasions, while in both everyone had lost their PET for several hours and had to hunt the rogue appliances down after the girl had _somehow _gotten them infected with VirusChips.

Tyson was eventually given a change of pants while the maids took the coffee stains off of his, and with the disaster-bringing maid-in-training gone, everyone dug into their lunches, making small talk amongst themselves. After most of the food was gone, the adopted son of Dr. Wily _–the fourth adopted child by the group's current count, or at least as far as they knew-_ asked something rather surprising of Lan that came out of nowhere.

"Lan Hikari, how'd you like to NetBattle me and Basic?"

Well maybe not _that _out of nowhere. After all there _was _a big NetBattle tournament coming up, so of course there was bound to be people NetBattling all around.

"Okay... But what brought this on?" the brunette asked the blond warily. Considering nearly every child Wily had raised turned out to be evil _–or at least at the beginning, Baryl being the exception-_, something told him there was more to this guy than met the eye.

"Oh, you know. I just wanted to see what was so special about you that the old man practically ripped out his hair in handfuls," the blond replied off-handedly as he flexed his wrist around the PET EX. "And plus I always wanted to see how I'd do against the kid that saved the world a half-dozen times by now," he said off-handedly.

"My money's on Uncle!" Bolt declared before Jane slapped the back of his head, "Ah! Ite! Yukikuso-Onna!"

"You want me to eat a meat bun?" Jane threatened, making Bolt pale significantly.

"Not Icykaka!" Bolt screamed as he jumped into Dex's arms, confusing the heavy-set boy about what would be so bad about the busty bluenette eating a meat bun. Or at least for another person apart from _her_.

"Sure, I'll play your game," Lan said with a smirk**, **ignoring the insanity that was going on in the background. "Just don't expect me to hold back. I saved the _world _you know," he said self-assuredly, his smug tone causing Tyson's brow to twitch. After Yai had pressed a switch on the wall, the table in the center of the room receded into the floor before a private-use netbattle projector rose up in its place, a holographic dome showing the field in high resolution.

**MegaMan  
vs  
Basic**

**Battle Routine Set!  
EXECUTE!**

**Cue BlazBlue OST - Nightmare Fiction**

"Lan, don't underestimate this guy," MegaMan saw fit to remind his NetOp as he and his opponent faced off from one another in the holo-dome. "Remember, he's been raised by Dr. Wily. We have no idea what he's capable of."

"Aw, what's there to worry about?" Lan asked, getting a bit of a big head. "I beat World Three, Grave, Nebula, the Neo World Three, and everything else that's fought me. Plus all this guy's using is an off-the shelf _BasicNavi_. What harm could _he _possibly do?" the brunette asked, blond's brow twitching as his hand went to his black chip folder.

"Let's start this simple," Tyson said through grit teeth as he drew out his black chip folder. "GrassStage, BulkBomb, FireRatton, HeatShot, quadruple-download," he called out as he slotted four battlechips in.

_If that's simple, what in the world is _complicated _supposed to be?_ Lan thought to himself as the ground became over-run with GrassPanels, a large black bomb with a short fuse almost crushing MegaMan's foot at Basic's chuck. The next moment he tossed an angry-looking red Ratton to the ground before striking it with a HeatShot, the tail lighting up like a fuse and sending the little rat in a straight shot towards the BulkBomb. Leaping out of the way as the flaming rat detonated, the twin-powered explosive sent him flying by the shockwave alone, and the smoke rising from the expanse of burning grass obscured his sight all around.

"WindRacket, battlechip in, download!" Lan called out, MegaMan's right arm forming into a large fan which he used to extinguish the flames in a row out in front of him, though a wall of smoke still covered the far portion of the field.

"AirHockey and AirSpin, double-download," Tyson said plainly as he slotted the two battlechips in. When a black puck-shaped blur shot out at him through the smoke, MegaMan dodged, only for his eyes to widen at the sight of the wind turbine riding on top of it, air blades slashing him and throwing him to the side.

"He used a moving attack to carry a stationary one to its target. Smart," the blue navi admitted with a smile. This would be a fun fight after all.

Oh how wrong he would be.

"Alright MegaMan, time to whip out the new gear," Lan said drawing out his new BattleChip, still warm from the ChipBurner. "MegaBooster battlechip in, download!" he called out, the pack on MegaMan's back glowing white as it began to change. Sprouting from the top and sides were gold fins with yellow accents, data taken from a DashCondor battlechip, while the four cylinders changed to red afterburners with black accents, data taken from a Burner battlechip.

"Lan, I hope this is a good idea!" MegaMan called out as the afterburners roared to life and he took to the skies. All things considered, it was going far better than their first attempt at it. Only drawback was that even the slightest amount of damage would cause it to tap out, since they couldn't really apply any armor to it and _still _get MegaMan airborn.

"Now that you're in the air, it's time for a bombing raid," Lan said as he looked into the holo-dome, proud that he'd finally gotten MegaMan a jetpack. "MiniBoomer, battlechips in, download!" Lan called out slotting the fistful of battlechips in rapid succession, MegaMan throwing the hail of explosives right at his opponent.

"Shotgun, MetalBody, battlechips in, double-download!" Tyson called out, Basic firing a multi-shot attack that took out half the MiniBoomers before the rest landed at his feet, detonating in a cloud of smoke. As MegaMan came in for another sweep, surprised at how well Lan's hastily-made MegaBooster was flying, he saw that ast eh smoke cleared, Basic's body was completely unharmed and colored like chrome.

"That must be a more powerful version of StoneBody," MegaMan theorized as he backed away while in mid-air.

"Area Steal, Barrier, FootStomp, battlechips in, triple-download," Tyson called out slotting the three battlechips in, Basic disappearing in a red and blue blur before appearing above MegaMan, a barrier appearing around him as he fell at his opponent feet-first.

"MegaMan, dodge it!" Lan shouted, MegaMan whirling around in an attempt to fly away only for the barrier-widened stomp to catch him in the chest. Sudden weight sending the two barreling to the ground, Basic dismounted from MegaMan's chest at the last second, MegaBooster on his back logging out at the sudden shock.

"I'll admit... you're pretty good," MegaMan said with a chuckle as he got to his feet and dusted himself off.

"Me? Or do you mean my '_NetOp_'?" Basic asked.

"What do you mean?" MegaMan asked warily as he got to his feet.

"Were it not for the skill of my NetOp, I would not be as good as I was," Basic replied as he and MegaMan circled around one another. "No matter how powerful the NetNavi, if their NetOp is a loser, then even the most powerful NetNavi in the world is just that. A loser," he said with narrowed eyes, a scowl in his monotone voice before he slammed his palm into the ground. "Geddon3!"

The next moment a vile purple tide swept across the field from the navi's fingertips and, much to MegaMan's shock, the entire field was soon covered with toxic purple tiles, bubbles of acrid smoke rising as the floor gurgled.

"Yow!" MegaMan cried as he bounced about the field, swampy ground eating at the soles of his heels and sapping his energy. Looking to basic, his eyes widened as he saw no acrid smoke rising from beneath the soles of _his_ shoes. "Hold on! How come you're not being affected by these PoisonPanels?"

"You really don't know the first _thing _about NaviCust, _do _you?" Tyson asked Lan, jovial tone replaced with a condescending one. "If you bothered to actually _read _the manual that came with your NetNavi, you'd know that with the FloatShoes custprog, you could avoid the ill effects of different panel types," he said motioning to Basic's soles, which upon closer examination could be seen floating just an inch above the field, hence the _Float_. "While you were out saving the world and fighting enemies relying on pure strength and borrowed power, the rest of us have just been trying to wade our way through the mess your conflicts always left behind. You'd better step up your game, Lan Hikari, otherwise I'll pull the rug right out from under you like I did against _BugRiser_."

"Alright you cocky bastard, you want a piece of me, then here goes!" Lan said drawing out a battlechip with GyroMan's symbol in hand. "GyroSoul, battlechip in, download!" he called out, intending for MegaMan to take to the air once more.

**Cue BlazBlue OST - Gluttony Fang**

"AntiNavi battlechip in, counter-download!" Tyson said with an uncharacteristic smirk as, before everyone's eyes, MegaMan was painfully electrocuted from the inside out as GyroSoul's armor began to form, the DoubleSoul breaking apart a moment later.

"Wh-What?" Lan and MegaMan gaped together as the form was canceled out right in front of their eyes.

"Contrary to popular belief, there are NetNavis out there who use data from others to bolster their own abilities aside from MegaMan, whether that data is given freely or otherwise. Normally it isn't that much of a handicap, but... Hahahahaha! To think I could bring the NetNavi that saved the world to his knees with only one battlechip!" he laughed madly as the shock dropped MegaMan to his hands and knees, the floor sapping his energy rapidly as he recovered from the jolt. "Really hilarious when you stop to think about it. World Three, Grave, and Nebula all tried to stop you, but none of them ever thought to cut you off from the _true _source of your power! It isn't determination, or friendship, or anything like that. It's dumb luck and your reliance on _others _that makes you strong! Mwa ha ha ha ha!" the blond cackled with a wide grin on his face.

"I-Isn't he getting a bit carried away?" Maylu thought with a sweatdrop on her head as she watched the once-tepid blond now going ballistic.

"Oh boy...Uncle's going Hazama on him," Bolt gulped.

"It's a good thing he doesn't have the Ouroboros or they'd really be in _real_ trouble," Jane nodded in agreement.

"What are you two talking about?!" Tory gawked. For all intents and purposes DoubleSoul was the solution to _everything_. Never before had it been countered like this.

"Basically, Uncle Tyson..." Bolt began before trailing off into a slow pause.

"...despises weaklings," Jane finished.

"If you're going to fight me seriously, you should do so with your '_own' _power, despite how '_tempting_' it maybe to borrow the power of others," Basic said as he stood above MegaMan, PoisonPanels sapping the blue navi's energy as he tried to get to his feet. "Here's an example of what a self-made navi should _'be'_," Basic intoned as he floated into the air, twin rings rotating around him as his features began to change, much like before only the end result this time was different from his BreakStyle. His forest green bodysuit had now become replaced with a black one, crimson streaks running down his sides and along his legs. His forearms and shins were covered in purple guards and greaves, reinforced on the fronts with score-marked plates held in place by rivet-like studs, the tops of his feet and the backs of his hands bearing metal plates. Mounted on purple shoulder, elbow, kneeguards, and his knuckles were metallic bolts of appropriate size. His helmet was now colored purple with black accents, a welding mask hinged to the NaviMarks on the sides of his head resting on the back of his head. His facemask now replaced with a jagged faceplate like Zero's, his skin a shade paler and blue eyes now glowing a fierce red.

"Style Change: Punk Style," Basic SC said as he assumed a more aggressive fighting style, a throaty growl leaving his throat and his voice a tad darker.

"Don't worry MegaMan, I'll clean off the field!" Lan called out. "PanelReturn!" Lan called out as he slotted the battlechip in, the field glowing white before it returned to the pristine condition it was in before. To be honest all he ever thought to use it on before were the appliances in his house whenever viruses gouged our portions of their cyberspcace. He'd have to keep this one with him more.

"Changing the field won't stop me from kicking your ass!" Basic said in a snarky tone. "FlashBomb!" he called out as he threw a glowing yellow sphere at MegaMan, a welding mask-like helmet with a thin horizontal slat and spiked studs dropping over his face before the flash burst out. MegaMan stumbled backwards while rubbing his eyes before a swift knee strike caught him in the gut, bolt digging into him and doubling over before he was sent tumbling away. When his eyes finally recovered, they quickly widened as Basic SC held a 9x9 foot RockCube above his head as though it weighed nothing.

"Uwaaaah!" he cried as he rolled out of the way of the throw, impromptu projectile sailing through the air like a softball as it bounced across the ground a few times before coming to a stop. "Man, this guy isn't playing around."

"Hungry? How 'bout a knuckle sandwich!" Basic SC offered, suddenly right in front of him as his left fist came forward and struck him right in the nose, sending him reeling backwards with a cry of pain. "Not in the mood? How 'bout some _'punch'_?!" he shouted as he suddenly caught MegaMan in the chin with his other hand causing the teeth in his skull to rattle as he descended to the ground. "Or maybe a _'foot long'_!" he bellowed as he lashed out at the falling navi with a snap kick that sent him tumbling across the field, getting to his feet only for his opponent to lunge sideways at him. "Here! Have a _'jaw breaker'_!" he shouted as he held his right fist in his left hand before he drove his elbow right into MegaMan's jaw, the jarring motion inside his head causing him to stumble about before he fell on the ground.

"So... So strong... Oi!" MegaMan grunted as Basic SC put his foot down, _literally_, the force of the stomping motion forcing MegaMan's back into the ground beneath him and cracking the blank panels.

"MegaMan, allow me tell you a little story," Basic SC said as the welding mask folded back, a look of what appeared to be _pity _in his eyes as he looked down at the weary blue netnavi. "Once upon a time, before I found my way to Tyson, I used to have a scrawny piece of meat and bone for a NetOp. Just started in the fifth grade, and every day since the start of the school year, he'd challenge the biggest kid with the biggest netnavi to a netbattle, and every time he lose. Pitifully," he spat at the memory, though that may've been the HeelNavi-inspired Style Change talking. "Some might blame the NetNavi, i.e. '_me_'for the losses, but as I recall, my dope of a NetOp only rushed blindly forward into every conflict, not '_once' _using even the slightest _'hint' _of strategy as he threw me against a NetNavi with stronger parameters than mine. One day, the kid got a CustomNavi from his dad, and whether he intended it or not, I was cast aside, thrown out like so much old garbage," he said as the feeling of being ejected from the only home he knew came to the forefront of his mind, eyes filling with sadness at the memory, while some of those listening began to tear up. "So, there I was, left on my own to wander the cyberworld. Even though I had no reason to, I kept tabs on the little piece of meat that used to be my NetOp after he got his CustomNavi. Hard to believe that on the day he gets a '_CustomNavi_'_,_" he spat as though the words were acid,_"_the little brat finally decides to grow some spine and rub more than two brain cells together. Shortly after he began tearing through everything in his path, all the while using the same level of strategy that, if even a small _'shred' _of it had been present when I was his NetNavi, I wouldn't have gotten my ass kicked twenty different times times!" he ranted before calming down. "Anyway, long story short, I found myself in the UnderNet, on my last legs and having fought everything within a mile of myself. Just as a fresh batch of punks came along like hungry vultures, Tyson's NetNavi came along and ripped them to shreds," he said jabbing a thumb at the blond behind the hologram. "Thirty punks there, and he took them out in three seconds. Three," he enunciated while holding up three fingers for emphasis, the others shocked that anyone could defeat twenty opponents in two seconds.

_That means Tyson's _original _NetNavi had to have cut through each one in .1 seconds, _Yai gaped. That time was even faster than ProtoMan's, or at least as far as she knew.

"Not too shabby," Bolt whispered as Jane nodded, "Remind me to see if Uncle Ragna would like to meet Uncle's NetNavi sometime."

"That would be overkill for _everyone_, baka," Jane hissed before she -_**CLAP-**_ slapped the back of his head.

"After that I approached that lone NetNavi, his body tempered by the harsh fires of the UnderNet into a fierce fighting machine, so much unlike when that whiny piece of meat from _before _was his NetOp," Tyson began speaking. "I asked him, what did he fight for, and instead of answering that he fought for power like every other denizen of the UnderNet, he told me he fought because there was nothing left for him, nobody who needed him. After he passed out, body de-rezzing and on the verge of deletion, I took him in, fixed him up, and downloaded his modified state into the ."

"A few weeks later we began our navi customizing business," Basic SC began again. "Since I'd been in the UnderNet for a long while, I knew where the most choice program data to be made into new programs was to be found. Tyson gave me a home when I was so callously abandoned, and in return, I gave him my life to do as he saw fit. I thought I'd been strong after fighting for my own life in the UnderNet for so long, but then Tyson took me to such great heights, that I began to wonder... If I ever fought the NetNavi that replaced me, just how easily would I beat his cyber-ass into the ground? Well... Hmhmhmhmhm," he chuckled mirthfully, seeming to enjoy some kind of inside joke before he spoke again. "I guess I got my answer after so long," he said cryptically as his style change tapped out, and the implications of what he'd said hit everyone over the head like a sack of hammers.

"Well then..." Tyson said clapping his hands as one would to get dust off, most in the room gaping, mouths opening and closing as though they were fish, no words coming out. "I think that's enough out of us today. Bolt, Jane," he said facing the two. "I'm due to see Mamoru in a bit. Would you mind cleaning up my BattleChip data and bringing it back home for me when you're done here?"

"Sure thing, uncle. Leave it to us," Bolt said giving a mock salute, the older blond nodding as he headed to the elevator and descended to ground level, silence permeating the massive tree house before Lan fell to his knees, propping himself up against the netbattle machine.

"Holy crap... Not only did we just get our asses kicked... but by our old NetNavi too," Lan gaped as he tried to process what he'd just heard.

"Don't you mean _I _got _my _ass kicked by _your _old NetNavi," MegaMan rebuttled. "You seriously mean to tell me you didn't uninstall him and put him back in his disk before returning him to the distributor."

"I thought you just _overrode _his data," Lan argued.

"NetNavis installation doesn't work like that," MegaMan argued. "Didn't you read the manual?" he asked, only for Lan to sheepishly rub the back of his neck. "Do you ever read the manual for '_anything_'?"

"You don't think Basic remembers _we're _the ones he lost to, do you?" Dex asked nervously.

"I'm scared, guts," GutsMan whimpered from inside his PET, top half clamped shut like a stubborn clam.

"Who's this Mamoru person he limped off to see?" Tory asked, despite the revelation that had just taken place.

"Mamoru is uncle Tyson's little brother," Jane answered. "Not by blood though, but it doesn't change that they both look so _cute_ together," she giggled with a smile, her chest bouncing up and down tantalizingly, Lan, Dex, and Tory taking a _profound _notice. Seeing this, Bolt walked over to the three to clear something up.

_"I should probably tell you this,"_ Bolt whispered to the trio. _"She's not looking in the opposite side."_

"Huh?" Lan blinked.

"She's playing for the same team," the blond reiterated.

"She's on a team?" Tory asked before Bolt facepalmed.

"..." Bolt made the three lean closer into a four-man huddle with a wag of his finger. _"Jane is a lesbian who likes to be dominant in bed."_

Hearing that, Dex and Tory collapsed with nosebleeds while Lan's face turned completely red from the blush. Had Chisao's ears not been coverd by Bolt, that last statement by itself would've destroyed his childhood innocence.

"So... Yai..." Naruto trailed off putting all else aside. "About that NetNavi you said you'd help me get...?" he asked hopefully.

"That's right, Basic gave Glyde the link before all _this _happened," she said motioning to the defeated forms of Lan and MegaMan, the netop sulking at how easily he'd been beaten, not to mention chewed out, while Roll was at MegaMan'sside healing the damage across his frame. "Let's get it set up and put in the order."

"Thanks Yai, you're the best," Naruto sighed. _Maybe I'll be able to make it in time for the Synchro Cup after all._

"I know," Yai said with a smile as she pulled the site up. The site was called **Custom Customizables**, vertical banners on the sides showing various CustomNavis of varying height, size, gender, and shape. "Well this is interesting. The site says it helps you select the NetNavi you want by running your personality profile against the stock of NetNavis they have."

"Must be for compatibility purposes," the blond mused. "Let's start it up," the blond requested as he took the mouse from Yai's hand, the first questions being _his _gender, and the preferred gender of his NetNavi: He chose Male.

"So... Do Tyson and his brother meet up often?" Jasmine asked the two as she came up to them, the others of course drawn to the conversation like flies to honey. Of course, what would you expect when the topic of a brother to the guy who beat MegaMan like so many others tried and failed came up.

"Yes. While their meetings aren't that frequent, they make the most out of the time they have," Jane replied, Naruto filling in the Personality Profile on **Custom Customizables **while Yai inserted herself into the conversation.

"Well, we'll have to see about having Tyson bring Mamoru by, won't we?" Yai suggested as she looked up from the computer. In the background the spiky-haired blond continued to mumble to himself, occasionally clicking answer bubbles before moving on.

"I'm sure he'd like that. Mamoru's really opened up since Tyson became his onii-chan," Jane replied, a few ears perking up at that word. "Anyway, lets meet up again sometime. We have to get going," she said as she and Bolt waved over their shoulders as they left, the group giving their farewells before they too went home.

"Yai! I'm ready to place my order," the blond shouted, the large foreheaded girl coming up to him and looking at the NetNavi that had come up on screen.

"Hmmm... That's an interesting shape. You're sure that's the one you want?" Yai asked looking over the foreign shape. Had Lan and Maylu been at their sides, they would've been surprised at what NetNavi had been selected for Naruto based on the personality profile he put in against his preferences.

"Yeah. There's just something... _cool_, about him," the blond noted.

"Alright then. I'll just have Glyde insert the billing and shipping information and..." -_**BLING- **_"Presto! You're order's been sent on the fastest delivery service that money can buy."

"Yai, you have no idea how much this means to me," the blond ninja said with a sigh.

"Why Naruto, you're going to make me blush," the shorter blond said playfully.

"Ah! Wait! I almost forgot! Tyson's chipdata!" Bolt said suddenly dashing back into the room from outside, heading towards the computer suite. "All I've got to do is save the data, put it on a disk, grab the copychips and..." the blond said as he tapped on a few keys, only for the sight that greeted him to make him pause.

On the screen was none other than all the members Saru Gang. There was a small, tense silence after that with Bolt's eye twitching as the on-screen simians paled at being caught. It was then that the Saru Gang screamed in fear, shoved the remaining battlechip data into a sack that was with the chimpanzee, and they proceeded to hightail it out of there. Bolt just stood there, his eye twitching as his body shaking.

"Zero..." Bolt began, "I need 'Reppu.'"

"Activating the pre-loaded ToneChip," Zero sighed, _I'm not surprised that he had that song uploaded in here._

"Those dastardly lowlifes!" Bolt declared as 'Reppu' began to play from his PET EX, fire burning in his eyes.

"Where did he get that scarf?" Maylu blinked, seeing a long red scarf had suddenly appeared on Bolt's neck.

"As a student to the great Boss, Bang Shishigami, I, Bolt Light, will bring these cowardly thieves to justice! Let's go, my partner Zero!" Bolt declared, heroicly holding up the PET EX to the heavens. "Henshin!" he called out as he held it out in front of himself like in a Super Sentai scene before pointing it at the console.

"Why me...?" Zero groaned as he entered the Network followed by the others.

"Glyde! Give me as much data as you can on where they're heading! I'm going after their NetOps!" Naruto growled. All these HeelNavis, Darkloids, and Saru Gang members were starting to _seriously _piss him off.

"Alright. Analyzing vectors and downloading them into your PET," Glyde spoke up, Naruto opening up his Next PET to see a loading bar going across the screen before a floating arrow appeared. "I've got the most basic vector. I've been able to determine that they're hacking into our servers from somewhere within DenTech."

"Doesn't really narrow it down, but alright!" Naruto said as he leapt off into the distance.

* * *

"I apologize for my NetOp. He was trained by the loudest ninja you will ever meet," Zero apologized as the group of NetNavis pursued the Saru Gang member's navis down the circuit. The others were about to confusedly open their mouths, only for Zero to reiterate. "Not Naruto. This guy's even louder and his strongest attack causes all his clothes to burn right off, leaving him in just red underwear and his scarf," Zero facepalmed, making the other gawk.

"Let us be off then, Zero! Onwards after those cowardly villains!" Bolt declared, the fire in his eyes growing on the screen.

"...Is he..." Roll began.

"Yeah..." Zero sighed, "Only when there's a time to be a hero arises does he enter what I call 'The Human Equivalent of Double Soul: Bang-Soul'." _Damn you, Bang Shishigami! If I ever meet you, I will pummel you to an inch of your life for teaching this boy! _the ex-procreator of the Zero Virus intoned to himself with a clenched fist.

* * *

Leaping through town with the Waymarker Glyde had provided him with, he was able to determine that whoever had hacked into the Ayanokoji's servers had to have been doing so through a land line in the southern district. With the large number of warehouses and various jack-in ports, it was easy to mask your signal, if not scatter your numbers so you all weren't caught at once.

_Too bad for _them_, I can be in more places than one at once,_ the blond thought with a chuckle as he bound over the buildings, even if someone looked up to see him, he wouldn't be anywhere long enough for anything but a blurry picture to be taken. To anyone below, he was nothing but a blur.

Mid-leap however he felt the hairs on the back of his neck bristle, and he stopped in the midst of an empty construction site. Looking up, he saw a tiny black square in the sky above his head. That tiny black square however soon became two, then four, then eight, before duplicating at a rapid rate, eventually forming a jagged, pixilated diamond-esque shape in the sky. The next moment a red spiraling portal appeared from within the depths of the black abyss that suddenly appeared in the sky, root-like arcs of red energy arcing out, changing directions in 90 degree intervals until it formed a random mess of squares and lines, the singular portal in the center.

"We've finally found you!" a myriad of voices shouted from within the portal. Looking up, the blond's eyes widened before he quickly leapt out of the way of a large mass that descended from the portal right at him, a surge of earth rolling out in all directions from the impact.

"_What the hell's going on here? There's supposed to be a Dimensional Area."_

The five figures were all characterized by the same attire and accessories; All were clad in yellow bodysuits with an orange chest bearing an inverted rising sun emblem, but not exactly a NaviMark, orange forearm guards and boots with black accents bearing electric green and blue lights on their forearms and legs. Lastly was the orange helmet with black visor, glowing green eyes visible and two plug-like antenna running down their backs. This was where the similarities to the one he and MegaMan had deleted, however.

Consisting of varying heights, proportions, and performing poses like something out of Super Sentai that made him unable to take these guys seriously, he had always shuddered at the possibility that there wre _more _of BrightMan, hoping beyond hope that the original was just an unfortunate accident of a spam processor in the cyberworld. Sadly this was not the case, as evidence placed before him showed.

On the leftmost side was a bloated copy of BrightMan with his left leg bent, right leg straight out at the side, left hand going across his waist with right raised in the air. Second from the left was a copy of BrightMan that _kinda _looked like him, only with a messy fringe of hair jutting up out of his helmet, left leg bent with right out, left arm above his head at the sky and right hand bent at the elbow and pointing at hi chest. The one in the center stood with arms raised and feet spread making an **X **shape, the eyebrows he could see through the visor reminding him of Rock Lee. Second from the left was a copy of BrightMan that looked like he'd been thrown onto a taffy stretcher and tallest out of the five, performing an opposite pose to the second from the left. The rightmost one was about half the size of the original BrightMan, right leg bent as he propped his weight on it with both arms pointed to the right.

" . . . Who are _you _guys supposed to be?" the blond asked with a sweatdrop.

"We are the BrightMan Brothers!" the five shouted in unison before sounding off from left to right. "Joannes, Samuel, Victor, James, Kenny! And we're here to avenge our brother's untimely demise by your hand!"

"How _exactly _do you think he died?" Naruto found himself asking. Not that he really cared in the slightest, the guy was a perv if ever there was any.

**Narrated-Flashback**

The setting was a straight dirt road amongst the rolling hills, rolling storm clouds flowing eastward in the wind, a few trees dotting the side of the path. Traveling down one end of the road was BrightMan, a straw hat on his head, a small group of girls travelling at his side, one brunette, one blond, one with white hair, and another with red hair.

"Wait right there, lightbulb head," a snide voice suddenly said, BrightMan adjusting the brim of his hat to see an orange and blue-clad blond-haired NetNavi standing in the middle of the road and barring his path. "The recent way of this world is quite disturbing, is it not?" he asked with a silver katana in one hand, a green-bladed saber in the other. "Any random tsujigiri could come around and do whatever he wishes. Maybe you should leave those girls with me, _I'll _take good care of them," he said eyeing the four behind BrightMan hungrily with slanted eyes. Tsujigiri were especially rampant during the early Edo period, attacking defenseless passerby after they had gotten a new sword, as to test it.

"You would assume I'd hand over those under my protection to someone like you?" BrightMan asked.

"Over your dead body or not, it doesn't matter to me," the blond returned, a chuckle leaving his fanged mouth.

"Very well then. I will fight you off!" BrightMan throwing his hat into the wind, the four girls behind him scrambling to catch it, even fighting amongst themselves before the brunette of the four won out. "Hold onto that for me. We will settle down for the night after this."

"Yes, milord," the four said bowing.

"Take this!" the blond sad jabbing his katana into the ground before pulling up, a haze of dust flying into BrightMan's eyes, blinding him. "Hmph. Careless," the blond said as he dashed forward, cutting BrightMan down in front of those under his protection.

"I leave... their protection to... my brothers..." BrightMan rasped as blood pooled around his fallen form. "Avenge me!" he cried into the heavens before he fell still.

**Narrated-Flashback End**

"Damn you!" the one with the eyebrows said pointing at the blond.

"We won't forgive you!" the one with the messy fringe of hair cried.

"Thieving scum!" the stretched-copy growled.

"You stole BrightMan's wives from him!"

"Your rain of terror ends here!"

_It's _"reign" _you moron, and I _so _don't have time for this,_ the blond thought as he dashed out of the construction yard, hoping to lose the five of them, or just deal with them after he beat the Saru Gang netops into a fleshy pulp.

Before he could escape however, eight massive stakes flamed into the ground around the courtyard, forming what looked like an electrical fence made of energy around him. Attempting to jump over them however didn't facilitate his escape, since even though there wasn't any visible barricade, he was still thrown back onto the ground.

"Damn it, I don't have time for this, so I'll make this quick," he said opening up his PET EX. "Mr. Famous! Mr. Famous do you read me?"

"There's no need for formalities. What do you need?" the man asked on the other end of the line.

"I'm surrounded by some kind of energy field, and there are Darkloids here without a Dimensional Area."

"Are you sure they're not using CopyBots?" the man asked, referring to his ex-girlfriend's work.

"No, they materialized out of nowhere," the blond answered. "Enough about that. I need you to home in on my position and give me a DA so I can fight these guys."

"Honing in on coordinates... Dimensional Area is on the way," Mr. Famous returned, the blond nodding as the line cut off before he withdrew a card with an ox symbol on it from his sleeve, a storage seal on the other side.

"_At least this thing won't go to waste,"_ the blond thought as he unsealed the contents of the storage tag _-which was much more pragmatic than having to unfurl a scroll- _and donned his disguise within the smoke, on the off-chance someone saw him fighting these Darkloids.

**Naruto  
vs  
BrightMan Brothers**

**Battle Routine Set!  
EXECUTE!**

"Remote Plug!" the five shouted as they threw their heads forward, the plugs on the backs of their heads snaking towards him from different angles. It was as the attack occurred that time seemed to stop, or at least in his mind, as he thought to the weeks prior.

After the subsequent butt kickings he'd received from Arma and Onishiba both, the blond had eventually managed to contract Miyabi and ShadowMan to train him in what it meant to be a _real _ninja, and not just one that spammed special techniques like they were going out of style. It may have cost him a small fortune to hire him out, but since Naruto reminded Miyabi of himself as a child _–only not blond and wore less orange- _before he got the scar and he became jaded, he decided to train Naruto at a reduced rate. It also might've helped matters that both parties benefited from this partnership.

While Miyabi himself was unable to train Naruto personally, ShadowMan, being able to travel through the cyber world near-instantaneously, was able to train him in the ways of the _Cyber_ Ninja after night had fallen. The blond soaked up knowledge like a sponge, and in return the blond taught ShadowMan the surface-walking techniques and even the Rasengan. Even though he was made of what was effectively 1s & 0s, he showed he could do what any ninja could do, only better.

Given that ShadowMan could already make clones, both illusionary and solid, the blond didn't need to teach him the Shadow Clone Jutsu, and ShadowMan's preferred method of approaching a target was through the shadows, which was better than _any _disguise since _those _could be compromised but shadow couldn't. Now that he had a few _moving targets_, the blond decided to put what skills he had to good use, and see just how far ShadowMan's teachings would take him.

_If I can become a _real _ninja, and not just a fireball-shooting ninja-tank, _the blond thought, since _his _definition of ninja didn't really match up with _this _world's definition of it. _I might just stand a chance against guys like Arma, and Onishiba, and whatever else this world decides to throw at me._

The BrightMan Brother's remote-guided plugs flew at him like winding snakes. To the blond however, they may as well have not been moving at all, their trajectories _nothing _compared to what ShadowMan had put him through. At first the cyber-shinobi had tested his ability by throwing shuriken at him. The blond had been able to dodge them easily enough in the beginning, but that only lasted until ShadowMan began using synthesized ninja wire on them, and could change their trajectory in mid-air.

_After this mess is said and done with, I am _definitely _going to dress more like ShadowMan. I won't have to worry about my classmates thinking they saw me as a NetNavi on the net, and I'll look badass doing it, _the blond thought with a smirk as he came out on the other side of the attack, electric explosions going off behind him. _I mean, ShadowMan's like a more badass version of Kakashi that isn't late for everything. What more can a guy ask for in a teacher?_

"Get him!" the BrightMan brothers cried as they ran at him from five directions, hoping to surround him. To the blond's satisfaction, the Dimensional Area finally materialized overhead, his attire changing to that of his NetNavi form, though his mantle and helmet remained.

"Kanashibari no Jutsu!" the blond called out as he released a wave of ill intent in all directions, his targets frozen mid-step by the overwhelming force weighing down on them. "Kugutsu no Jutsu!" he then called out directing his will towards the wrecking ball, arcs of white electricity dancing over its surface before it whirred to life, wrecking ball lifted from the ground before it swung into the largest of the BrightMan brothers, crushing him against the magic barrier and erasing him from existence, black-and-purple particles wafting out. _After hearing how his past self used this technique against Lan with a giant crane machine, I always _wanted _to test that out._

"You killed him!" the tall one shrieked.

"Vengeance will be ours!" the eyebrowed one cried.

"Not on my watch! Wirusu no Kuchiyose!" the blond called out as he slammed his palm onto the ground, a car-sized Scuttle virus materializing in a haze of spiraling data, as did a small squad of Ninjoy. Once again another skill taught to him by ShadowMan, which consisted of fighting off packs of viruses before encountering one of the higher-end ones. After besting a house-sized Scuttle virus in the wastes of the UnderNet, as well as a large NinJoy about as tall as he was, it felt strangely natural to summon the smaller ones to him at will. For some reason, after Gamabunta had helped him save Iris, it kind of felt as though he should leave the toads be, and use what was in the world he was in now, rather than rely on the past. "Attack!" he ordered as he threw an arm forward, the Scuttle _scuttling _forward and lashing out at the eyebrowed and fringed BrightMen with its front legs, the skinny and little ones being herded away by the NinJoy and their swinging kunai. The little one went down easily enough, his body breaking down into black-and-purple particles, however the tall one was smart enough to draw out an ElecBlade and slice the two NinJoy in half.

_Hm. Time to see exactly what _this _thing is supposed to do, _Naruto said as one of the first battlechips he ever won appeared in his hand. "CutterSP!" he called out, a large pair of rounded scissors flying through the air before it caught the off-guard BrightMan brother in the chest in two places, pinning him to the ground before his body deteriorated into a haze of black-and-purple particles. _Huh. Who would've guessed anything from a guy like _CutMan _would've been remotely powerful, _the blond thought to himself, the deletion of their two brothers spurning the remaining two on, ElecBlade and Static attacks augmented by their own affinity bringing the large Scuttle that was assaulting them down.

"There! We beat your giant monster!" the BrightMan with the fringe of hair cried.

"Now you're completely defenseless!" the BrightMan with eyebrows added.

"If you really think that's the case, then give me your best shot!" the blond taunted. "Come on! Right here! At the least you can hit a stationary target, _right_?" the blond said with a smirk.

"Rrrrrrrrgh!" the two remaining BrightMan brothers growled at the one that had slain their brethren. "Bright Beam!" the two shouted out as they fired laser beams at the blond from their eyes, catching him in the chest, his feet leaving trenches in the ground as he slid back, scorch marks on his bodysuit, but otherwise unharmed. The smirk the blond gave them only sought to infuriate them, the two throwing neon green energy balls at the approaching blond with a call of- "Energy Ball!" -, the spheres of energy catching him in the chest once again. "How you beat our genius of a brother I'll never know," the one with hair spoke. "We'll be sure to rectify that," the one with eyebrows added, only for the blond to begin chuckling. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, heheheh. Nothing much. Just thinking how funny it all is," the blond said with a grin as he brought his arm up, a silver katana blade forming. "Muramasa... I think you've had your fill of pain, at least from small fry like this," he said with a smirk as a bloody red aura began to waft off the blade. "Kage Bunshin," the blond called out as he split in two. "Shunshin!" he called out as he disappeared in a blur of movement the two brothers going back to back as the helmed blonds appeared on opposite sides of one another, blades poised. "Fumikorosu!" the two blonds shouted as they rushed forward at unreal speeds.

"Flash Stopper!" the two called out as they projected energy fields out in front of themselves. In a flicker of orange and silver, the two Naruto were now on opposite sides of one another, backs turned to their opponents, barriers still erected. Though the two saw fit to smirk, that soon died on their lips as their bodies suddenly opened up by two bisection wounds that had cut them clean in half, their Flash Stopper shattering like cheap glass. "But... Our vengeance..." the two rasped as their bodies fell to the ground. As the blond looked over his shoulder, he assured himself that what he was seeing _wasn't _a trick, but that their bodies were deteriorating into-

"Shadow Bugs..." the blond mused to himself as he watched the particles dissipate, the collective rising into the portal overhead before it changed from crimson to teal, the anomaly seeming to remain high above even as the magical barricade held him in place disappeared. "I'll look into it later. Right now I need to stop those Saru bastards before they get away with such dangerous data," the blond said to himself as he leapt off, Waymarker guiding him.

* * *

"There you are, you lowly thieves!" Bolt declared on his screen as the pursuing group managed to catch up to the Saru Gang, GutsMan having used an AreaSteal to bar their path. "Unhand that data at once and we will only give you the lighter punishment for stealing instead of unleashing my Master's Astral Heat upon you!"

"...Astral Heat?" Meddy asked with a sweatdrop, wondering what kind of roots this kid had been chewing on.

"It's a special BattleChip he made that's based off Bang's attack," Zero explained before turning to the screen. "Don't you dare use that on me, dammit! I can't just make clothes reappear like you said his could do after a few minutes!"

"What?! Very well then, then perhaps..." the blond was about to suggest, possibly something as off-the-wall as something that'd make Zero's clothes disappear.

"No BattleChips!" Zero snapped with a shake of his fist at Bolt, earning sweatdrops from the others.

"Aw, what's the matter? Too much of a chicken?" the gorilla began to flap his elbows like wings while clucking.

"Why you..." Zero growled.

"Oi, boys, let's give them some GigaCanons!" the gorilla ordered, the simian-like NetNavis pointing their arms at different members of the group and waited for their weapons to deploy. With only a tense silence greeting them, one of them decided to pull up their NetOp's Window and see what was going on. The picture only showed a dank wall somewhere, the only sounds filling the now-silent circuit being a myraid of pain-filled cries and some loon in the background shouting- "FIIISH!" -and- "Processed Cheese Spray of Justice!" -loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Hm. Guess our friend got to your NetOps before _you _could," Roll said with a smirk.

"So what will you do?" X asked as his arm changed into the X Buster. "Even if you possess such high-powered ChipData, it is not in any kind of form usable for combat. Surrender and we can all go home peacefully."

"Heh. As if we'd settle with that deal!" the boss sneered.

"We won't go down without a fight!" the smallest of them added.

"...We were hoping you'd say that," Bolt grinned.

"For the last time: no BattleChips involving the burning or losing of clothing!" Zero barked.

"Drat. There goes my GigaChip," Bolt snapped his hand in sadness.

"Hold on, Niichan," Jane held a hand before Bolt, "X, do you have a request?"

"But of course," X nodded before taking out a white glove and slapped the leader NetNavi of the Saru Gang, "You, sir, have insulted the honor of my host family. I demand satisfaction in a tag-team NetBattle."

"A NetBattle, eh?" the gorilla smirked as the mandrill walked up beside him, "What's the conditions?"

"Two of you against just me," X informed, "I will only use one BattleChip while you may use anything you wish. Commander Fish, you can hear me, correct?"

"Hyess!" the helmed blond returned as his face appeared on one of the Windows, the Saru Gang NetOps tied up off to the side with steaming bruises on their heads.

"You will give them BattleChips to use," X stated.

"What?!" Commander Fish exclaimed.

"Do not worry. This will be over by the time you slot the first ones in," Jane waved her hand.

"..." the gorilla and mandrill began to laugh.

"Fine! We'll take you on," the gorilla sneered.

"Ready?" X asked.

"Lust Sin, MusicChip in and Download," Jane informed as music began to play, "And just to note; I am merely setting the mood for this one-sided victory." 

"One-sided victory? Heh. Thanks, but we prefer 'Witch Doctor,'" the mandrill hooted.

"That's fine. But this is our victory," X stated.

"Ready?" X asked, shifting into a drawing stance.

"Bring it!" the gorilla roared before the two charged at X.

* * *

"You went overboard!" Bolt frowned.

"It was better than being called a nudist," Jane waved him off.

"But did you really have to let X tear that gorilla's left arm off and then use it to..." Bolt shuddered as he made a vague motion with his hands.

"We got the data back, so everything is fine," Jane shrugged.

"You are _so_ lucky I told them to look away when he grabbed the arm," Bolt scowled.

"_YAIIIIII...!"_ a voice was suddenly heard in the distance.

"What was that?" Bolt asked.

"YAIIIIIIIIIIII...!" the same voice from the distance cried, only it sounded like it was closer that time.

"Whatever it is, it's getting-" Jane stated right before a blue blur rushed by her, hers and her brother's hair whipped out to the side. "... closer," she finished as she turned to the left, eyes widening at the sight of a three foot-tall anthromorphic hedgehog with bluequils and red running shoes with white stripes and gold buckles shaking Yai by her shoulders.

"Yai-I-need-to-run! I-don't-give-a-kick-to-Chaos-that-you-don't-want-me-exposed! I! Need! To! Run!" Sonic shouted at high speeds, "Anywhere-I-will-go-just-so-long-as-I-can-run! So-please-let-me-run-run-run-run-run-run-run-run-run..."

_Good heavens...Is that...Otou-kun? _Jane thought in shock at the sight that greeted her. _No...It isn't him._

_Wow... He sure is nuts, _Bolt thought with a laugh in his noggin. _Guess that answers the question I had _earlier_, _he mused to himself.

"Just calm down and sit!" Yai shouted as she threw Sonic onto the couch, pressing a button on a large purple remote with a shout of, "Opening Gate Four!" The next moment a seatbelt coiled its way across the blue hedgehog's chest before that part of the couch suddenly raised from the floor and flattened out, an open tube appearing beneath him before he was dropped in. As soon as Sonic was sent on his way through the tunnel to the underground hangar where the supersonic jet was waiting to take him to NetFrika, the group suddenly realized there was an elephant in the room to address. Well, technically it was a _hedgehog, _and it has just _left _the room, but you know what I mean.

"You uh.. Wouldn't happen to think that was a kid in a costume... would you?" Yai asked when she remembered that Bolt and Jane were present when all that happened. Receiving two shaking heads in return, Yai and the others hung their heads. _"I thought not..."_ she whimpered pitiably. Sonic just _had _to snap right before Bolt and Jane had left, didn't he?

"Can I say something before you explain?" Bolt asked, earning a nod from Yai, "That...was...awesome! He was crazy nuts-o! What did you do? Not let him run around a place big enough for him to run?"

"..." Various facepalms happened while Jane slapped Bolt on the back of the head.

* * *

Suffice it to say, Bolt and Jane required an explanation for what they saw, so Lan begrudgingly decided to explain what was going on; That there was an interdimensional entity attempting to take over the world, and those who stopped him had come to their world to stop him, one of which they just saw. The brunette saw fit to keep the blond's secret since none of his actions had necessarily been _seen_, but eventually _that _would come to light as well. When the two left, Giga-Class chipdata in tow, the group was finally able to relax, what started out as a great day soon becoming tremendously stressful.

"Man, Chaud is _not _going to be happy about the Smasher's cover being blown," Lan groaned as he looked up at the ceiling from the couch. The general consensus amongst the Net Saviors was that they try to keep as tight a lid on this as possible, and while Tyson _had _in fact left before Sonic showed up, and he _had _asked that Bolt and Jane keep quiet about it, he couldn't help but think this whole top-secret-mission thing was on the vestiges of falling apart.

"Geez, why can't Sonic be more like Lucario? All he does is meditate in the attic, eat away from any open windows, and maybe watch a little TV with Roll and I. That's it," the red-head groaned as well.

"Well, there's no going around it now," Dex sighed, knowing at least a _little _bit about what was going on since he and GutsMan were right in the middle of it while everyone in NetCity was running for the hills as soon as the Halberd appeared on the horizon.

"Miss Yai, a reminder that your cousins from Kingland and Central Japan will be arriving here in two hours," Glyde said from the girl's shoulder, the statement causing the blond to groan.

"Ooooogh... Not _those _two," the Ayanokoji heiress groaned, which strangely enough reminded Lan and Maylu of their _own _moanings whenever the large-foreheaded girl would drag them halfway across the world, good intenions be damned. "Yes, fine, have the cooks get something ready, and have one of the maids bring me some aspirin," the blond muttered. "And not Kiryuuin! For all I know she'll mix up the aspirin with cyanide pills!" she amended.

"Who would keep those things _next _to one another?" Tory asked.

"Trust me, if it's Kiryuuin Sakurako, she'll find a way," Yai groaned as she rubbed her temples, this being the first time anyone had ever seen her this stressed.

"You never _mentioned _having any cousins," Maylu added in.

"That's because I had hoped you'd never _meet _the two of them," Yai groaned.

"Why? Are they that bad?" Tory questioned.

"Bad? _Bad_?! Oh they're _worse _than _bad_!" the shortest blond they knew ranted. "One of them is _literally _Kingland nobility and always lords it over everyone's head! The second one? The girl could throw away 20 trillion yen in a red herring investment and call it a _prank_!" she shrieked as she raked her nails across her scalp. "Honestly! How can someone spend money so frivolously like that?!"

_Have you tried looking in a mirror lately? _those familiar with Yai's own financial escapades thought with sweatdrops on the sides of their heads.

"Anyway..." the blond said between pants. "We aren't related by blood, but our aunts and uncles ended up marrying into the other families like in a twisted version of rock, paper, scissors, and because of that our families expect the three of us to play nice."

"Well, why _can't _you?" Maylu asked.

"You wouldn't understand... Compared to the two of them, _I'm _the middle-class commoner," Yai sighed, everyone shocked that she'd ever admit that about herself, given she prided herself on being leagues above everyone else. Sure, she'd gotten better about it, but she still liked to spend money frivolously. Lan and Maylu could only imagine how much that giant robot/elevator that brought them to Kingland must've cost.

_And did it _really _have to drag us all over the place? _Lan and Maylu wondered at the memories of nearly being drowned, eaten by lions, roasted by a volcano, or frozen in the arctic circle.

"Anyway... We won't be getting any work done once they show up, so we should probably clean up," Yai sighed dejectedly.

"Why? Don't you want them to join us?" Tory asked.

"Let's just say when it comes to my cousin from Kingland, that anything and _everything _has a habit of blowing up whenever she's near it," Yai groaned. "Last time she got near one of her home's wall consoles, she wound up deleting half the maid's netnavis, and all she did was place an order for cookberry pie. So, unless you don't want all your netnavis deleted beyond repair, by all means, _associate _with her."

"Y-You know what, I think I hear my mom calling," Dex said as he tucked Chiaso under his arm before bolting.

"I... Have to go to the bathroom," Tory said nervously as he collected his things and left.

"I have a piano recital to attend to," Maylu said as she left.

"And _I _have _homework _to do," Lan said as he left.

"That's what I thought," Yai huffed as her friends left. And for good reason too.

"Miss Yai, are you sure you aren't simply exaggerating?" Glyde asked.

"You tell me," the short blond returned poignantly. "It was the _blue-haired _one that riddled you full of bullet holes, and the _doggish _one that lopped your arm clean off."

"Point taken. I'll have the chefs begin preparing dinner," the butler-like navi returned.

* * *

"Well, today was certainly an interesting day, wasn't it?" Dr. Hikari asked aloud to Dr. Wily, the others having left for the evening, whether it be to go home and be with their families, get acclimated to all the new features of their PET EXs, or merely get some rest after everything that had happened. Naruto's earlier observation of the BrightMan Brothers had proven SubSpace was working with someone from their world, if they could create Darkloids capable of appearing in the real world without CopyBots or a Dimensional Area. The temporal anomaly floating just above southern DenTech had required the site be cordoned off until further sense could be made of what was going on. It wasn't like anyone would actually go _near _the thing, since there were people who had been hoarding canned goods since the Halberd appeared and everyone thought it was the vanguard for some kind of alien invasion.

"_I_ didn't notice anything out of place," the aged doctor returned plainly.

"You mean you're not the _least _bit surprised about one of your adopted children just walking in and seeing him for the first time in years? On top of everything _else _that's going on?"

"It's a small world. Anything's possible, if recent _trends _have anything to show." The aged doctor of course was speaking in reference to the Smasher's appearance in their world. R.O.B., the one that coordinated their immigration into their world, hadn't been heard from since that tournament in NetCity right before the Halberd arrived. All he knew for certain was that whatever means they used to come to their world, it had scattered them to the far corners of the globe, hence why they weren't all in the same place, at the same time, and it couldn't be predicted where they'd land or even _when _they'd resurface. _From what I understand half of them aren't as _human _as the rest of us, so they may simply be in hiding. And it isn't like we can advertise where they can go now can we? _he thought to himself.

"Yes, but still... What exactly did you mean by the 'burnt hotdog smell'?" Dr. Hikari asked, only for a low growl from the aged doctor to shut him up. That must not have been a particularly good memory if he was being glowered at in such a way.

"It was a long time ago. Doesn't matter now," Dr. Wily huffed as he adjusted his cane in his hands, the years starting to catch up to him moreso than ever. He'd been able to walk again easily enough after Grave collapsed on itself, but it was in recent years that he felt himself beginning to slow down. _Quite frankly, it sucks getting old, _he thought to himself.

"Well um... Hey, my wife is making her famous meat spaghetti for dinner. Care to join us? We always have extra," he said trying to change the subject.

"I'd like to, but I can't. I have other plans for dinner," the old man replied plainly as he hobbled off.

"Oh... Well, alright then," Dr. Hikari returned. He sometimes couldn't understand the old man in the slightest.

* * *

**Author's Notes:  
First and foremost, since I've become a better writer and researcher, the fight scenes taking place in the cyberworld or within dimensional areas will be more diverse. Guys like Mana and Onishiba would've still curb stomped everyone in the beginning, but with the recent changes and adaptations I've made, the characters will be able to get stronger without resorting to super-rare chips all the time.**

**Secondly. Since I've become marginally better at writing FanFiction as I've had more practice since the recent updates, I've decided to establish a few things about this world.  
-Timeline- The timeline for **** and **** "Naruto EXE" and "Naruto EXE : SubSpace"**** is set after the events of MegaMan Beast, set before the events of MegaMan Beast+ (since I didn't know about it at the time I'd started writing the prequel, which was right after I'd finished watching Beast). The main characters (Lan & co.) are around 15-16, though younger characters like Chisao and Yai are a tad older than their anime counterparts.  
-Anime- The MegaMan anime are more or less unchanged between the events of the first episode in season one to the last episode of Beast. This is where the primary structure of the and Naruto EXE:SubSpace world comes from.  
-Manga- The primary source of manga-related cues for this story are from the 13 volume-long "MegaMan NT". These cues include the fact that battlechips can be made at home, such as the MegaBooster which was "made" in Volume 2 Chapter 6 of the "MegaMan NT Warrior" manga. The term "ChipBurner" was made-up, and acts similarly to a CD Burner.  
-Games- The games don't contribute as much to the storyline as the anime or manga, though do contribute the stock of virus species, battlechips and their classes, as well as NaviCust. While HP or "Hit Points" are put into numerical form within the game, they ARE mentioned within the anime, but not given numerical values.**

**Since was my FIRST EVER attempt at fanfiction, there are bound to be some inconsistencies, the primary one being Iris and Colonel's existence outside of Beyondard even though this takes place after Beast. Sadly, I possess no real explanation for this at the time, and I likely will not anytime soon, so just use your imaginations.**

**Now on note of MegaMan. Some of his strengths are being under-played, and that's my mistake for not being as good a fanfiction writer as I am now. With this update I hope to change that. Someday I may make a rewrite of , though whether it follows THIS storyline or a different one is up to conjecture, as is whether or not I'll make a re-write at all.**

**In reference to Style Change, while in the anime and manga the Style Change is exclusive to just MegaMan, in the games it's categorized under the Change . BAT program, and it's implied there are other NetNavis that can use it. Whether it's to the same extent as MegaMan is up to conjecture. Style Change was replaced with Double Soul after consuming Gospel's Grave Virus Beast and subsequently releasing the Internet in the Anime, while in the Games, Style Change was lost at the end of MMBN3 when Tadashi Hikari's "letter" resurrected MegaMan after he'd been consumed by Alpha. **

**Double Soul (Soul Unision in Japan) on the other hand is not the result of a 1s & 0s program like Style Change is from the Change . BAT, but is the result of MegaMan's "soul" communing with that of another NetNavi's. Whether that's through the Deus Ex Machina of "friendship is magic" (not the ponies), or the fact that when two NetNavis synchronize they can exchange data is left to conjecture altogether.**

**Naruto's Unity Formation was an early attempt at something similar yet different to Double Soul for Naruto. The name came from part of "Soul Unision", while the "Formation" part of it was from the Fusion Dance of DBZ, only without the dancing but closer to what happens sometimes in Double Soul, which of course changes like the seasons in its aesthetics. Him spitting the chips out of course was intended as a bit of an inside joke (pun not intended). If you really need an explanation for Naruto being able to commune with the souls of others so sporadically, think back to people like Inari, Gaara, Tsunade, etc.**

**On note of Naruto's origins in this story, once again, it was my FIRST fanfiction, so there were bound to be inconsistencies. I started writing this back before Naruto had a definite ending, and at the time there were "Sage Mode Naruto" videos all over youtube. Consider him being "reincarnated" in the CyberWorld with the Kyuubi as a "Cybeast" one of those Deus Ex Machina things (like in a lot of FanFiction where God/Kami/Allah/Whatever decides to step down and be proactive). To put it simply, there's no real explanation for a lot of the inconsistencies, though recent revelations have allowed me to create a more coherent storyline for New Mystery Enterprises and its members/OCs, so I'll be touching up on that to add some depths into this storyline.**

**Lastly is why Onii-San's alias has the Japanese honorific when no one else uses them. Reason is, "Onii-san" was the only piece of Japanese I knew at the time, and while I know more now, I'm not going to re-write every chapter in this story to accommodate. It'd take too long. If you need a "fanfictional cannon" explanation, think of it like how in the future, no one has any morals or knows the value of a hard day's work.**

**As for who Yai's "cousins" are, I left a few hints so those of you widely-versed in anime should be able to figure it out. While the Author's Notes secion now ends, here are the disclaimers so I'm not accused of plagiarism.**

* * *

**Disclaimers:  
I do not own Naruto, MegaMan, or Smash Brothers.**

**Jane Light is an OC created by GammaTron and is being used in my story with his permission, just like Bolt Light is. Tyson Taisen is an OC created by the both of us for use in this story. X does not exist in this form in the Battle Network series, so I suppose X would be an OC created by me, inspiration by from Capcom. **

**As for Zero's backstory, since this fanfiction takes place before the events of "Beast+", Zero's origin comes from the video game, "Mega Man Network Transmission", where you have the chance to save Zero from deletion if you bring Dr. Hikari his Source File. As for "Professor Toshihiko", otherwise known as "Professor" in MegaMan Network Transmission and "Beast+", since his actual name isn't given, I gave him the name of his Japanese VA.**

**BugRiser is a character taken from the "MegaMan NT Warrior" manga, volume 12 chapter 6, "Nightmare of BattleChip Stadium". Since the Program Advance seen at the end came off as a little... odd, I decided to re-vamp that section of the manga in this fanfiction. BugRiser actually makes a cameo appearance in the form of two Giga Chips in MegaMan Battle Network 6: Gregar/Falzar, depending on which version you get.**

**The BrightMan Brothers are based on the CutMan brothers only with different names. Left to right (in the scene where they do the Super Sentai-esque poses); Joannes, Samuel, Victor, James, Kenny, based upon Joey, Sammy, Vinny, Jerry, and Nicky in the EnglishDub. Jiiro, Saburo, Shiro, Goro, and Rokuro were their names from left to right in JapaneseDub.**

**Lastly are the ninjutsu that Naruto used in this fight. Here are some translations so no one has to ask what they mean.  
Kanashibari no Jutsu = Paralyzing Spell  
Kugutsu no Jutsu = Puppetry Technique  
Wirusu no Kuchiyose = Virus Summoning  
Kage Bunshin = Shadow Clone  
Shunshin = Body Flicker  
Fumikorosu = Step Cross**


End file.
